[FOM] H.N. from "Mathematical Cranks"

[Alexander M Lemberg]

In fact, the Wikipedia article at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwood_Dudley

tells the story and has a link to the publication (12 pages):

http://images.library.wisc.edu/WI/EFacs/transactions/WT1974/reference/wi.
wt1974.wdilworth.pdf

His name was William Dilworth.

Sandy

On Sat, 05 May 2018 15:56:31 -0400 tchow <tchow at alum.mit.edu> writes:
> In Underwood Dudley's book "Mathematical Cranks," he devotes a short 
> chapter to someone that he identifies only as "H.N."  Evidently, 
> H.N. 
> was a full professor of mathematics when, in 1970, he wrote:
> 
> "Recently I have discovered a surprising fact.  Logicians' axiomatic 
> set 
> theory is meaningless in mathematics.  They have been working in 
> wrong 
> mathematics and exerting their efforts in vain over the past sixty 
> years.  They are still making the same mistake.  So I dare say that 
> all 
> the books related to axiomatic set theory must be removed 
> immediately.  
> Only my book describes correct set theory."
> 
> According to Dudley, H.N. sent his letter to seventeen well-known 
> mathematicians, who were of course not impressed.  Apparently H.N.'s 
> 
> name disappeared from the AMS membership list a few years later.
> 
> I am wondering if any FOMers know who H.N. was and if he published 
> his 
> ideas on set theory?  Naturally I'm not expecting such a book to be 
> of 
> much mathematical value, but it does seem to be of some sociological 
> 
> interest since it is not so common for someone who has made it all 
> the 
> way to a professorship in mathematics to exhibit this kind of 
> behavior.
> 
> Tim
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