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Pólya (George) papers
SC0337
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Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: George Pólya papers
Identifier/Call Number: SC0337
Physical Description:
67.25 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1884-1985
Summary: Papers relate to
Pólya's 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 Variables,
How to Solve It,
Mathematical
Discovery
, and
Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning;
ephemera; reprints; and photographs.
Language of Material:
Undetermined .
Materials in Subseries 8 of accession 1989-132 are restricted until January 1, 2039.
Otherwise the collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 48 hours
in advance of intended use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition note
The materials in this collection were given to Stanford University by Mrs. George Pólya in
1986, 1987, and 1988, and by Gerald L. Alexanderson, 1989-2009.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
Hungarian mathematician George Pólya was educated at the University of Budapest and the
University of Paris, and 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.
[Identification of item], George Pólya papers (SC0337). Department of Special Collections
and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
The papers in this collection relate to Pólya's 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
Variables
,
How to Solve It,
Mathematical Discovery, and
Mathematics and Plausible
Reasoning
; ephemera; reprints; and photographs.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must
be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford
University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special
Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s) or assigns. See:
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of
digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Mathematics -- Study and teaching.
Mathematics.