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Mathematics has for centuries been stimulated, financed and credited by military purposes. Some mathematical thoughts and mathematical technology have also been vital in war. During World War II mathematical work by the Anti-Hitler coalition was part of an aspiration to serve humanity and not help destroy it. At present, it is not an easy task to view the bellicose potentials of mathematics in a proper perspective.
The book presents historical evidence and recent changes in the interaction between mathematics and the military. It discusses the new mathematically enhanced development of military technology which seems to have changed the very character of modern warfare.
List of contents
I Perspectives from Mathematics.- Military Work in Mathematics 1914-1945: An Attempt at an International Perspective.- The Brains behind the Enigma Code Breaking before the Second World War.- On the Defence Work of A.N. Kolmogorov during World War II.- Improbable Warriors: Mathematicians Grace Hopper and Mina Rees in World War II.- New Mathematical Disciplines and Research in the Wake of World War II.- Mathematics and War in Japan.- Discovery of the Maximum Principle in Optimal Control.- Mickey Flies the Stealth.- II Perspectives from the Military.- War Cannot Be Calculated.- Warfare Can Be Calculated.- Duels of Systems and Forces.- On Facts and Fiction of "Information Warfare".- More or Less Exposed Non-combatants and Civilian Objects under the Conditions of "Modern Warfare".- III Ethical Issues.- Nids Bohr's Political Crusade during World War II.- The Military Use of Alan Turing.- The Mathematician K. Ogura and the "Greater East Asia War".- Working within the System.- Ethics and Military Research.- IV Enlightenment Perspectives.- Mathematical Thinking and International Law.- Calculated Security? Mathematical Modelling of Conflict and Cooperation.- List of Contributors.
Summary
Mathematics has for centuries been stimulated, financed and credited by military purposes. Some mathematical thoughts and mathematical technology have also been vital in war. During World War II mathematical work by the Anti-Hitler coalition was part of an aspiration to serve humanity and not help destroy it. At present, it is not an easy task to view the bellicose potentials of mathematics in a proper perspective.
The book presents historical evidence and recent changes in the interaction between mathematics and the military. It discusses the new mathematically enhanced development of military technology which seems to have changed the very character of modern warfare.
Additional text
"The relationship between mathematics and war dates back to ancient times- recall the stories about Archimedes' war inventions, or the use of amthematics in the design of fortifications, sea navigation and ballistics. However, the dieas involved did not go far beyond elementary geometry and calculus. The book Mathematics and War focuses on the 20th century when the situation changed rapidly. The cooperation between mathematicians and engineers led to the discoevery of modern aerodynamics, cryptography, atomic bomb or digital computers. Of course we are refering to mathematics as a broader discipline encompassing mathematically supported technology (e.g. computer science), too. The volume consists of articles that have been presented at the International Meeting on Mathematics and War held in Sweden, 2002. Among the authors there are mathematicians, army officers as well as philosophers; each describes the relation of mathematics and war from a different perspective. The topics discussed can be roughly divided into three categories:
1. The role of mathematicians in war research.
2. The moral responsibility of scientists engaged in war.
3. Mathematical models of war.
Most of the material presented in related to the events of both world wars; however, it includes examples from Napoleonic wars as well as from more recent history such as the Vietnam war or the war in Yugoslavia. Readers might appreciate the article devoted to breaking the Enigma code which contains some notes on relations between Poland, France and Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation."
---MATHEMATICA BOHEMICA
Report
"The relationship between mathematics and war dates back to ancient times- recall the stories about Archimedes' war inventions, or the use of amthematics in the design of fortifications, sea navigation and ballistics. However, the dieas involved did not go far beyond elementary geometry and calculus. The book Mathematics and War focuses on the 20th century when the situation changed rapidly. The cooperation between mathematicians and engineers led to the discoevery of modern aerodynamics, cryptography, atomic bomb or digital computers. Of course we are refering to mathematics as a broader discipline encompassing mathematically supported technology (e.g. computer science), too. The volume consists of articles that have been presented at the International Meeting on Mathematics and War held in Sweden, 2002. Among the authors there are mathematicians, army officers as well as philosophers; each describes the relation of mathematics and war from a different perspective. The topics discussed can be roughly divided into three categories:
1. The role of mathematicians in war research.
2. The moral responsibility of scientists engaged in war.
3. Mathematical models of war.
Most of the material presented in related to the events of both world wars; however, it includes examples from Napoleonic wars as well as from more recent history such as the Vietnam war or the war in Yugoslavia. Readers might appreciate the article devoted to breaking the Enigma code which contains some notes on relations between Poland, France and Czechoslovakia during the Nazi occupation."
---MATHEMATICA BOHEMICA
