Incompleteness: Godel, Escher, Bach and Godel's Proof

寫給當代的經典III Classics for Today III
Incompleteness: Godel, Escher, Bach and Godel's Proof
講者：張亮夫
Speaker: Cheung Leung Fu

奧地利數學家哥德爾 (Godel) 於二十世紀三十年代發表了一個驚天動地的「不完備定理」(Incompleteness Theorem），改寫了人類對數學本質的看法。

二十世紀五十年代，內格爾 (Nagel) 和紐曼 (Newman) 出版了一本很有啟發性的科普小書《哥德爾証明》 (Godel's Proof)，令更多人能領會哥德爾的思路。

《哥德爾証明》一書映響深遠，更成為七十年代一本科普暢銷書《GEB : 一條永恆的金帶》（Godel, Escher, Bach : an eternal golden braid）的啟發。

In 1931, the young Austrian mathematician K. Godel announced a result which changed the humanity's understanding of mathematics forever.

In 1956, Nagel and New published a non-technical article in the magazine Scientific American which explained the proof of Godel.

Two years later, the two authors expanded this article to a wonderful little book Godel's Proof, which motivated the bestseller "Godel, Escher, Bach by Hofstadter.