Review of Men of Mathematics

Summary

Editors' Note: E. T. Bell's Men of Mathematics is one of the all-time best sellers among books on mathematics or mathematicians. We now recognize that the title appears to exclude the possibility of women being mathematicians. Sonja Kovalevsky, the only woman with a biography in the text, is given only half a chapter. The title was not Bell's, however; it was forced on him by the publishers who wanted a counterpart to their popular Men of Art. In recent years it has become fashionable to “discover” errors in Bell's accounts in Men of Mathematics, a serious problem with the book (see, for example, Tony Rothman: Genius and Biographers: The Fictionalization of Évariste Galois, Amer. Math. Monthly 89 (2) (1982), 84–106).

Readers of Mathematics Magazine at the time Men of Mathematics first appeared, however, would not have been surprised to learn that Bell often made exaggerated statements about his subjects, sometimes seemingly making up the details as he went along. Dunnington would seem to refute that charge, but he clearly alerts readers of the Magazine to the shortcomings in Bell's narrative. He also points out that the book is remarkably entertaining. As Dunnington predicted, the book developed a large and loyal following and it has influenced countless numbers of students and amateurs to become interested in mathematics. The book has not been out of print since its appearance in 1937.