Writing a Book about Alfred Tarski

1. Introductiona. Tarski in Warsaw

i. 1901: born.ii. 1923: PhD in logic. iii. 1923–1939: high-school teacher & university lecturer-researcher.

b. Tarski in the USi. 1939: stranded on a lecture trip at onset of World War II.ii. 1942: hired by UC Berkeley. Founded world’s leading center of logic.iii. 1964: graduated H. N. Gupta, his only PhD in foundations of geometry.iv. 1970: external examiner for my PhD from Gupta in Regina.v. 1983: died in Berkeley.

c. Early Work in Poland—Geometry and Teachingi. With Andrew & Joanna McFarland. Show our book.ii. Feferman & Feferman 2004 is wonderful but doesn’t cover Tarski’s

Polish career well. Show F&F.iii. Our new book fills some gaps. Primary-sources are scarce.iv. Had an idea for this, but no Polish language or travel. Needed help!v. Said so during a talk at Whiskeytown in 2007.

d. The McFarland Family Was Therei. Andrew

(1) lecturer at Sonoma,(2) sometime math. grad. student in Oregon,(3) from California but learned Polish from his mother.

ii. Joanna, from Płock, an experienced high-school teacher of Polish.iii. They met on a bus in Croatia, married, and bore Marysia in 2007.iv. Tried life in the US, but decided to return to Płock. Show family pdf.v. We arranged to collaborate.vi. This talk includes

(1) a little more about Tarski,(2) some about me,(3) a lot about how the book came about.

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2. JTSa. 1953–1957: High School in Ohio

i. Good experience in Latin, German, geometry, commercial music.ii. Father gave me a book containing Gödel’s Proof, about 1931 “Formally

Undecidable Propositions of Principia Mathematica ...” Show Newman.iii. Also there: Tarski’s logic text, chapter 1. Don’t remember it from then:

too understandable?b. 1957–1961: Harvard

i. Saw Principia Mathematica. Wow! Could I learn that? Show PM pdf.ii. Math major: computers, abstraction. Didn’t get measure theory.iii. Learned logic on my own from books by Quine & Church.iv. Lots of low-level music activity.v. Mediocre grades. Decided not to become a professional musician.

c. 1962–1964, SFSU & NRDLi. Studied Tarski’s LSM: what I wanted to really learn. Show LSM.ii. Studied lattice theory, some progress with measure theory.iii. Attended Berkeley logic colloquia.iv. Software engineer at NRDL.v. Married Helen, a high-school science & social-science teacher. She

taught me to think about history.d. 1964–1966, Stanford

i. Studied advanced set theory and(1) foundations of geometry with Gupta,(2) logic and software engineering with Dana Scott,

ii. but still didn’t understand measure theory.iii. Failed to qualify. Advice: Scott | Tarski | secretary | Gupta.

3. 1966–1970, SFSU, NRDL, Regina & Kiela. SFSU: lecturer, philosophical logic discussions.b. NRDL: software engineer.c. Regina: studied with Gupta.i. Learned more about Tarski.ii. By then, comfortable with German and French.iii. PhD 1970 (not on Tarski’s work, but on the Kiel school’s).iv. Tarski/Pieri anecdote.v. Tarski lecture on degree of equivalence of polygons. Explain that. Use

example on chalkboard. Beautiful but inaccessible in the literature.d. 1969–2003, SFSU &c

i. Teaching and administration: math. & comp. sci. (incl. graphics)ii. Some software engineering and geometry research.iii. Books on software engineering and geometry.

e. 2003–2007, SFSU retiringi. To something, not from. ii. Marchisotto and Pieri.iii. Learned written Italian.iv. 2007 Pieri book published by Springer. Show Pieri book.

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Writing a Book about Alfred Tarski Page 3

4. The Tarski Book, 2007–2009a. Spoke with Givant at Berkeley logic colloquium about next project: Tarski

on degree of equivalence and maybe other Polish works?b. Wrote paper on Pieri & Tarski.

i. 2007, Whiskeytown: preliminary report.ii. 2010 Monthly. Won a Ford prize. Show Monthly paper.

c. 2007 recruited McFarlands.d. 2009 contract with Springer.

5. Tarski: More Detail. Refer to F&F. Show F&F again.a. 1901: born in Warsaw, 2nd largest city in Russian Empire.b. Middle-class Jewish family, business-oriented: the Teitelbaums.c. Polish at home, Russian in school.d. 1915–1918: Germans occupied Warsaw, peacefully.e. 1918: entered University to study biology.

i. University closed: residual warfare in Poland. Independence!f. 1919: reentered to study logic and mathematics. Gap: Why?g. 1920: Polish-Soviet War, antisemitic propaganda. Show poster pdf. Gap:

Influence?h. 1921: started publishing logic research, in Polish.i. 1924: PhD with StanisławLeśniewski on logic.j. Employment scarce (economy and antisemitism).k. 1924– part-time assistant and lecturer at University.l. 1924 changed from Teitelbaum to Tarski.m. 1924 with Stefan Banach, famous “paradoxical” decomposition, in French.

i. Describe it, using chalkboard.n. 1925– full-time high-school teacher. Gap: Activity?o. 1929 married Maria Witkowska, a teacher at that school. Gap: Background?

i. Her family had suffered greatly in those wars; she and two sisters weredecorated for paramilitary heroism in 1920. Show pdf of sisters.

p. 1925–1930: under Jan Łukasiewicz, framework for logic. Gap: How?q. 1930–1940: rigorous semantic methodology for discussing truth.r. 1925–1940: frantically pursued research on set theory and other applications

of logic. In Polish, German, French. Gap: Overview.s. 1935– one of world’s leading logicians.t. 1930–1935: Polish publications for high-school students & teachers. Gap:

Unknown.u. 1938: changed to English.v. Summer 1939: stranded at Unified Science meeting at Harvard when Ger-

mans and Soviets invaded Poland.w. Maria and their two children survived. She was not Jewish. Reunited in 1946.x. The rest of Tarski’s extended family were all murdered by the Nazis.

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6. Evolution of Our Projecta. Translate the degree-of-equivalence papers & one by Henryk Moese. Gap:

Who? Publicize! Reviewer: the highlight!b. Translate Tarski’s papers still only in Polish. All short.c. Update Givant’s 1986 Tarski bibliography.d. With that, all Tarski’s papers would be available in English, French, or

German, and all his geometry papers in English, except the most famous one,Banach & Tarski 1924. Translate that! (I suspect, due to declining familiaritywith French, that it will attract attention.)

e. At that point all Tarski’s works would be available in English, French, or Ger-man except his coauthored high-school geometry book. Show title page pdf.i. Mixed advice on translating that. Decision: translate excerpts.ii. Note coauthors, particularly Wacław Schayer. Gap: Who? Used how?

f. All these stemmed from contexts reported poorly in F&F. Their coverage ofTarski in Poland was remarkable, given the scarcity of resources. But theydid not research deeply in Polish archives. Although much of the work to betranslated involved the Polish educational system, F&F provided almost noinformation about that. Decision: include as much social background onTarski’s teaching as possible.

g. Include new information that we found about 1918–1924 as experienced byAlfred and Maria.

h. Our book’s organization is complicated!7. McFarlands

a. Translated Polish works: describe their procedure for consistency.i. I polished their English to achieve uniform style.ii. They critiqued that to preserve meanings.

b. They translated much social information roughly for my use. c. They dug deeply in Polish academic and government archives for social

information.d. They interviewed a former high-school student of Tarski.e. They argued with me constantly about interpretations of our findings.f. They met numerous Polish researchers at a meeting on mathematics history

at Będlowo, and discussed the project with them.8. JTS

a. Designed the book.b. Translated French, German, and a little Italian.c. Dug, but not so deeply, in archives at Berkeley and on the Internet.d. Organized and wrote the background chapters,

i. including heavy-duty measure theory for Banach–Tarski!e. Drew about 70 geometric figures with Mathematica.f. Massaged about 70 graphics with PhotoShop.g. Edited and typeset the 500-page book with WordPerfect and MathType.h. Interfaced with Springer and other organizations.i. Public relations.

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Writing a Book about Alfred Tarski Page 5

9. Engineeringa. All communication by email and cloud storage.

i. My folder of correspondence with McFarlands now contains 2300 items,not including scans and downloads and drafts!

b. Datai. The book and its documentation occupies 2500 files in 500 folders.ii. Digital resources for research occupy 4700 files in 650 folders.

c. A large software engineering project with mathematical and historical roots.10. Surprises from Biographical Work

a. Don’t trust personal-interview reports entirely.i. Pieri: marriage.ii. Tarski: early employment.

b. Dig and ye shall find!i. Details about Tarski’s school job and about Maria’s life through 1920

came after pursuing references in Prof. J. J. Jadacki’s biographical notes.ii. A story of Tarski’s professors’ code-breaking during the 1920 war started

from brief mentions in Polish emigré literature.iii. Publishers’ imprints & library stamps on later editions of Tarski’s high-

school text led to context of its use in 1940s DP camps. Show titlepage pdf again.

c. Serendipity helps!i. Pieri’s family in Sant’Andrea.ii. Tarski’s coauthor’s son Andrzej Jerzmanowski in Warsaw.

11. It’s been quite an adventure!

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Chalkboard

1. Alfred Tarski: Early Work in Poland—Geometry and Teaching

190119231923–19391939194219641983

[Two incongruent circles are not equivalent.]

[Two incongruent spheresare equivalent.]

H. N. GuptaAndrew & Joanna McFarlandSolomon & Anita FefermanDana ScottMario PieriStanisławLeśniewskiStefan BanachJan ŁukasiewiczWacław SchayerAndrzej Jerzmanowski

2.

1/5

4/5

1 5/4

TWO pieces, anyone?

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Writing a Book about Alfred Tarski Page 7

Props

1. Tarski 20142. Feferman & Feferman 20043. Gödel’s Proof4. Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics5. Marchisotto & Smith 20076. Smith 2010

Graphics in pdf

1. Tarski 2014 front cover2. McFarlands in Płock3. Principia Mathematica page4. 1920 propaganda5. Witkowska sisters6. Geometrja cover

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