James Roy Newman (1907–1966) was an American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and mathematical historian. He was also a lawyer, practicing in the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

from 1929 to 1941. During and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he held several positions in the United States government, including Chief Intelligence Officer at the US Embassy in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Special Assistant to the Undersecretary of War, and Counsel to the US Senate Committee on Atomic Energy. In the latter capacity, he helped to draft the

Atomic Energy Act of 1946 The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (McMahon Act) determined how the United States would control and manage the nuclear technology it had jointly developed with its World War II allies, the United Kingdom and Canada. Most significantly, the Act rule ...

. He became a member of the board of editors for ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'' beginning in 1948. He is also credited for coining and first describing the mathematical concept "

googol A googol is the large number 10100. In decimal notation, it is written as the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeroes: 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, ...

" in his book (co-authored by

Edward Kasner Edward Kasner (April 2, 1878 – January 7, 1955) was an American mathematician who was appointed Tutor on Mathematics in the Columbia University Mathematics Department. Kasner was the first Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ...

) ''Mathematics and The Imagination''.

Author

In 1940 Newman wrote (with

) ''

Mathematics and the Imagination ''Mathematics and the Imagination'' is a book published in New York by Simon & Schuster in 1940. The authors are Edward Kasner and James R. Newman. The illustrator Rufus Isaacs provided 169 figures. It rapidly became a best-seller and received s ...

'' in which he identified the mathematical concept of a very large but finite number, which he called "

" and another large number called "

googolplex A googolplex is the number 10, or equivalently, 10 or 1010,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 . Written out in ordinary decimal notation, it is 1 fol ...

" — this was the first time this number, and this term, were identified. In 1942 Newman wrote ''The Tools of War'', which was an illustrated examination of warfare. In 1948 he published ''The control of atomic energy''. In 1955 he wrote ''What is Science'' and in 1956 he published ''The World of Mathematics'', a four volume library on the literature of mathematics from A'h-mosé the Scribe to

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

, presented with commentaries and notes (1956). The four volume series covers many branches of mathematics and represents a 15-year effort by Newman to collect what he felt were the most important essays in the field. With essays ranging from a biography of

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan (; born Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar, ; 22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis ...

by Newman to

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

's ''Definition of Number'', the series is often praised as suitable for any level of mathematical skill. The series has been reprinted several times by various publishers. Newman also wrote ''Gödel's Proof'' (1958) with

Ernest Nagel Ernest Nagel (November 16, 1901 – September 20, 1985) was an American philosopher of science. Suppes, Patrick (1999)Biographical memoir of Ernest Nagel In '' American National Biograph''y (Vol. 16, pp. 216-218). New York: Oxford University Pr ...

, presenting the main results of Gödel's incompleteness theorem and the mathematical work and philosophies leading up to its discovery in a more accessible manner. This book inspired

Douglas Hofstadter Douglas Richard Hofstadter (born February 15, 1945) is an American scholar of cognitive science, physics, and comparative literature whose research includes concepts such as the sense of self in relation to the external world, consciousness, an ...

to take up the study of mathematical logic, write his famous book ''

Gödel, Escher, Bach ''Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid'', also known as ''GEB'', is a 1979 book by Douglas Hofstadter. By exploring common themes in the lives and works of logician Kurt Gödel, artist M. C. Escher, and composer Johann Sebastian Bach, t ...

'', and prepare a second edition of ''Gödel's Proof'', published in 2002. In 1961 Newman wrote ''Science and Sensibility'', in 1962 ''The Rule of Folly'' and in 1963 ''The Harper Encyclopedia of Science''.

References

* 1948:
The Control of Atomic Energy
' via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

* *

External links

Obituary: J.R. Newman

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

29 May, 1966
"Where Are You When I Need You, James R. Newman?"
a poem by Lionel E. Deimel dedicated to Newman and ''The World of Mathematics''.
"The World of Mathematics by James R. Newman"
��a 1989 book review in the journal ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' by

David E. H. Jones David Edward Hugh Jones (20 April 1938 – 19 July 2017) was a British chemist and author, who under the pen name Daedalus was the fictional inventor for DREADCO. Jones' columns as Daedalus were published for 38 years, starting weekly in 1964 in ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, James R. 1907 births 1966 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American historians of mathematics 20th-century American historians