Julia, a life in Mathematics

by Constance Bowman Reid

In high school Julia Bowman stood alone as the only girl - and the best student - in the junior and senior math classes. She had only one close friend and no boyfriends. Although she was to learn that there are such people as mathematicians, her ambition was merely to get a job teaching mathematics in high school. At great sacrifice her widowed stepmother sent her to the University of California at Berkeley. But at Berkeley, in a society of mathematicians, she discovered herself. There was also a prince at Berkeley, a brilliant young assistant professor named Raphael Robinson. Theirs was to be a marriage that would endure until her death in 1985. Julia is the story of Julia Bowman Robinson, the gifted and highly original mathematician who during her lifetime was recognized in ways that no other woman mathematician had ever been recognized. This unusual book brings together in one volume the prizewinning Autobiography of Julia Robinson by her sister, the popular mathematical biographer Constance Reid, and three very personal articles about her work by outstanding mathematical colleagues.

Genres: Mathematics, Biography

Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely fascinating. i want to take number theory again

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful tribute to a mathematician by her sister. Part autobiography, part biography, this book reveals what it is like for a woman in a world of male mathematicians. Respectfully put together by her sister after she died of cancer, the story is well told and very interesting. Some of the mathematics presented at the end is a bit technical for the non-mathematician, but you don't really need to follow the details of her proofs to understand that this woman contributed much to the field of mathematics and was groundbreaking as a woman in her field.

[Kassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was disappointed that the "autobiography" section, though written by Julia Robinson's non-mathematician sister, has such brief, shorthand references to mathematical reasoning that they were not possible for a lay reader to follow. The book was redeemed by Yuri Matijasevich's remembrance of his collaborative work with Robinson, which combined humor and detail such that is was possible for this reader, with imperfect recollection of the mathematical essentials, to intuit the inventiveness of their joint reasons--though of course I could not reconstruct it. More importantly, it serves as a refutation of the myth of genius, by showing how with hard work, passion for the problems of mathematics, and a collaborative ethos, it is possible for great things to be accomplished by modest people.