How to Die Like a Mathematician
Celebrating bizarre deaths of great mathematicians
By Daniel Lee
Cardano, Girolamo (1501 - 1507)
Caradano was a devote fortuneteller, and when he found himself of health on a day of his predicted death, he drank a glass of poison and killed himself. [1]
The clock ticked
and its hand hit.
The hour of his prediction
for his time in perdition.
But, health was still with him!
No strife with death for his life;
he was full of hype!
His rep as a fortuneteller was on the line,
(though he still was a mathematical one of a kind.)
Without asking for mercy,
he lifted his glass of poison, and gulp;
he had fulfill his prophecy.
Galois, Évariste (1811 - 1832)
Évariste Galoiswas shot in the abdomen in a duel with Perscheux d'Herbinville (possible cause of duels are blindfolds of love, a scratch in his political pride, or a mess with the police). [2]
His blood boiled.
On his head broiled
an idea;
that was all that he could hear -
a gluttonous devour-er of his attention
a conniving justifier of his pretension.
The duel he accepted no longer in his mind-
only blood, the thickening blood of his kind,
that his enemy, in his journey to hell, will leave behind.
Bang!
and a pang.
The thick blood puddling upon his hands.
His knee bend.
The young man of twenty,
whose life was far from plenty.
Dies on a small patch,
his brilliance barely hatched.
Godel, Kurt Friedrich (1906 - 1978)
Kurt Godel went paranoid and was in constant fear of being poisoned: he would refus to eat any food that wasn't prepared by his wife whom he gave his only trust. When his wife went ill and was unable to prepare food for Kurt, he starved himself to death. He weighed 60 lbs at the time of his death. [3]
Turing, Alan Mathison
Alan Turing's story really resonates in my heart. For a wonderful recording of Alan Toruing's short biography refer to the reference. It is one of my favorite podcast.[4]
References
[1] Goodwin, Jennifer. "Gerolamo Cardano 1501 - 1576". <http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/men/cardano.html>
[2] Évariste Galois From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois>
[3] Kurt Godel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_G%C3%B6del#Later_years_and_death>
[4] Radiolab. The Turing Problem. <http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2012/mar/19/turing-problem/>
Last Edited: 2013 Jan 10
Comments
- I think you ought to write a follow up page on how to "live" like a mathematician! Cheers, -pm.
