Oppenheimer in 1958: Even Mathematicians No Longer Understand Mathematics
pickover · x · 2026-11-08
Pickover shares Oppenheimer's 1958 quote from "The Tree of Knowledge": "our philosophers do not know mathematics and—to go a step further—our mathematicians do not know mathematics." Oppenheimer was commenting on the explosion of knowledge and specialization in the mid-20th century: math had grown so vast that thinkers and even professional mathematicians could no longer grasp the field as a whole or its deep interconnections.
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