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There is a famous incident in the history of mathematics involving the mathematician Per Enflo being awarded a live goose by Stanislaw Mazur for solving problem 153 in the Scottish Book by constructing the first known example of a Banach space failing to have the approximation property. The incident is somewhat amusing because the award was offered in 1936 but not claimed until 1972, at which point the prize of a live goose was decidedly anachronistic.

There is a commonly used picture of the event, which seems to be more or less the only one online:

Stanislaw Mazur awarding a live goose to Per Enflo.

I was told recently that this was actually broadcast on Polish television. This statement is also corroborated by Enflo's personal website. Was a recording of this made, and if so does it still exist today?

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  • $\begingroup$ @Mauricio I have not looked. I believe the person who told me this knows Enflo personally, so I was inclined to believe the claim, although I know that this is not firm historical evidence. $\endgroup$
    – James Hanson
    Nov 24 at 15:41
  • $\begingroup$ @Mauricio Enflo also states this on his website. I've edited the question to reflect this. $\endgroup$
    – James Hanson
    Nov 24 at 16:45

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