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Kurt Godel

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Mathematician

The Resume

    (April 28, 1906-January 14, 1978)
    Considered one of the great geniuses of all time
    Proved the incompleteness of axioms for arithmetic (the most famous mathematical proof of the 20th century)

Why he might be annoying:

    A book-long explanation of Gödel's famous theorem took 777 pages in Douglas Hofstadter's book 'Gödel, Escher, Bach' (1979)
    While studying for his U. S. citizenship examination in 1948, he became convinced he had found a logical inconsistency in the Constitution.
    When he was at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton with Albert Einstein, he was considered 'the smart one.'
    His proof showed that nearly a century of effort by the world's greatest mathematicians to axiomatize all of mathematics was doomed to failure.
    In his later years, Gödel was paranoid about the spread of germs and he became notorious for compulsively cleaning his eating utensils and wearing ski masks with eyeholes wherever he went.
    He died at seventy-two in a Princeton hospital, because he thought people were trying to poison him and refused to eat.
    He was born in the same country as Arnold Schwartzenegger.

Why he might not be annoying:

    In Austria, a Nazi sympathizer murdered one of his professors.
    Many consider his famous 'incompleteness theorem' the most important result of 20th century mathematics.
    Henri Poincaré predicted his 'incompleteness theorem.'
    His 'incompleteness theorem' proved that truth does not equal mathematics.
    Gödel also invented the theory of recursive functions (1931), which used today as the basis of a powerful theory of computing.
    His wife Adele was a dancer.
    He fled the Nazis in 1939 and came to the United States.

Credit: SumoBear


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 41.67% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 26 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 30 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 22 Votes: 40.91% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 65 Votes: 52.31% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 128 Votes: 60.16% Annoying
    In 2005, Out of 163 Votes: 46.01% Annoying
    In 2004, Out of 284 Votes: 42.61% Annoying
    In 2003, Out of 562 Votes: 44.84% Annoying
    In 2002, Out of 825 Votes: 45.09% Annoying