George Polya papers, 1884-1985
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Papers relate to his research and teaching in mathematics and include professional and personal correspondence with mathematicians worldwide, 1910-1984; course materials including lecture notes; mathematical research notebooks dating from 1917 to 1960; manuscripts including those from his published works COMPLEX VARIABLE, HOW TO SOLVE IT, MATHEMATICAL DISCOVERY, and MATHEMATICS AND PLAUSIBLE REASONING; ephemera; reprints; and photographs.
Description
| Type of resource | mixed material |
|---|---|
| Extent | 40 linear ft. |
| Place | California |
| Publication date | 1884 - 1985 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English; French; German |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Pólya, George, 1887-1985 |
|---|
Subjects
| Subject | Beke, Manó, 1862-1946 |
|---|---|
| Subject | Bernays, Paul, 1888-1977 |
| Subject | Bieberbach, Ludwig, 1886-1982 |
| Subject | Bohr, Harald August, 1887-1951 |
| Subject | Borel, Emile, 1871-1956 |
| Subject | Brentano, Franz Clemens, 1838-1917 |
| Subject | Carathéodory, Constantin, 1873-1950 |
| Subject | Edrei, Albert |
| Subject | Fejér, Lipót |
| Subject | Fekete, Mihaly, 1886-1957 |
| Subject | De Finetti, Bruno |
| Subject | Frege, Gottlob, 1848-1925 |
| Subject | Haar, Alfréd, 1885-1933 |
| Subject | Hadamard, Jacques, 1865-1963 |
| Subject | Hadwiger, Hugo |
| Subject | Harary, Frank |
| Subject | Hardy, G. H. (Godfrey Harold), 1877-1947 |
| Subject | Hecke, Erich, 1887-1947 |
| Subject | Hensel, Kurt, 1861-1941 |
| Subject | Higgins, Thomas James |
| Subject | Hilbert, David, 1862-1943 |
| Subject | Hille, Einar, 1894-1979 |
| Subject | Hirsch, Arthur, 1866-1948 |
| Subject | Hurwitz, Adolf, 1859-1919 |
| Subject | Jentzsch, Robert, 1890- |
| Subject | Kamke, E. (Erich), 1890-1961 |
| Subject | Keszthelyi, Tibor, Dr |
| Subject | Kiefer, Albert, 1884- |
| Subject | Knuth, Donald Ervin, 1938- |
| Subject | Kollros, Louis, 1878- |
| Subject | Landau, Edmund, 1877-1938 |
| Subject | Lehmer, D. H. (Derrick Henry), 1905-1991 |
| Subject | Littlewood, John E. (John Edensor), 1885-1977 |
| Subject | Mittag-Leffler, Magnus Gustaf, 1846-1927 |
| Subject | Montel, Paul, 1876- |
| Subject | Nevanlinna, Rolf, 1895-1980 |
| Subject | Nørlund, N. E. (Niels Erik), 1885-1981 |
| Subject | Ostrowski, A. M. (Alexander Markowich), 1893-1986 |
| Subject | Pfluger, Albert, 1907- |
| Subject | von Pidoll, Max |
| Subject | Prather, Carl |
| Subject | Pringsheim, Alfred, 1850-1941 |
| Subject | Riesz, Frigyes, 1880-1956 |
| Subject | Runge, Carl, 1856-1927 |
| Subject | Schlesinger, Ludwig, 1864-1933 |
| Subject | Schoenberg, I. J |
| Subject | Schur, Issai, 1875-1941 |
| Subject | Siegel, C. L. (Carl Ludwig), 1896-1981 |
| Subject | Sierpinski, Waclaw, 1882-1969 |
| Subject | Sommerfeld, Arnold, 1868-1951 |
| Subject | Stäckel, Paul, 1862-1919 |
| Subject | Stern, Alfred |
| Subject | Szász, Otto, 1884-1952 |
| Subject | Szegő, Gábor, 1895-1985 |
| Subject | Tietze, Heinrich, 1880-1964 |
| Subject | Toeplitz, Otto, 1881-1940 |
| Subject | Weyl, Hermann, 1885-1955 |
| Subject | Wigner, Eugene Paul, 1902-1995 |
| Subject | Wirtinger, Wilhelm, 1865-1945 |
| Subject | Young, Grace Chisolm |
| Subject | Stanford University., Department of Mathematics > Faculty |
| Subject | Mathematics |
| Subject | Mathematics > Study and teaching |
Bibliographic information
| Biographical/Historical | Hungarian mathematician. Educated at the University of Budapest and the University of Paris, Pólya taught at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich from 1914 to 1940. His students included future Stanford physics professors Felix Bloch and Hans Staub. In 1942 he joined Stanford's Department of Mathematics, whose chairman, Gábor Szegö, had been a fellow student in Hungary. He continued to teach until his 90th birthday in 1977. Following early research on probability, Pólya turned to the difficult area of the theory of functions of a complex variable. He was also interested in geometry and geometrical methods. His study of symmetry in the plane was studied and applied by the Dutch artist M.C. Escher. Pólya's later work on the principles of heuristics and problem solving is credited with providing a foundation for the application of computers to artificial intelligence. In addition to his own research and teaching, Pólya was concerned with methods of teaching mathematics and mathematics teachers. He is considered the father of the current trend toward emphasizing problem solving in mathematical teaching. His very successful book HOW TO SOLVE IT has been translated into fifteen languages and is still used widely. He died in 1985. |
|---|---|
| Language | Some correspondence and printed materials are in German or French. |
| Ownership | Gift of Mrs. George Pólya, 1986, 1987, and 1988, and Gerald L. Alexanderson, 1989-2009. |
| Location |
|
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/yy107nn3487 |
| Location | Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Univ. Libraries, Stanford, CA 94305 |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).