I was in a high school in Bluefield, West Virginia and so they had the class -- they have someone who is the best student and this or that and the most popular and maybe the best looking. I was voted as most original. I wasn't the best student.

So there is something of that in my approach to mathematics. I have tended to think that the thing to do is to get away from what other people are doing and not to follow directly in anyone's recent work. I did that in game theory also. I brought in some alternative ideas, which, to some extent, are competitive.

I was a mathematics student, so I had to have a thesis in mathematics. Now I wasn't too much concerned because at the same time I developed a very good idea in pure mathematics. I got what became real algebraic manifolds. I could have published that earlier, but it wasn't rushed to publication. I took some time in writing it up. It appeared in 1953 finally or maybe '52.

previous | return to questions | next