Blind Mathematicians(onionesquereality.wordpress.com)
onionesquereality.wordpress.com
Blind Mathematicians
http://onionesquereality.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/blind-geometers/
3 comments
> The following anecdote illustrates the hazards of being editorial assistant of the Annals in the early thirties. A manuscript was submitted by the brilliant Soviet mathematician, Lev Pontryagin. Since paper was then exceptionally scarce in the Soviet Union, Pontryagin had taken wrapping paper, torn it into appropriate-sized pieces, and gone to work on his typewriter. Unfortunately, Pontryagin was blind. The wrapping paper was torn unevenly, and a good portion of the words and symbols in the margins were missing. No matter. The Annals editorial assistant retyped the paper, supplying all the missing symbols. What a hero!
Edgar R. Lorch, Szeged in 1934, American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 100, #3, pp.220–221
Edgar R. Lorch, Szeged in 1934, American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 100, #3, pp.220–221
As someone who's been slowly going deaf since infancy, these sorts of stories can be really inspiring.
On a different but related note: Some people in the deaf community has long argued that deafness is not an handicap and in fact can be considered as "a difference in perception", akin to having a different native language or coming from a different country. Although the more radical aspects of such a position is untenable (some deaf parents declare they would rather have deaf child rather than a gearing one) the fact that having constraints put on perception will lead to increases in other aspects of it is quite interesting, I think. Should we call it "the conservation of perception"?