I'd like to know about examples of prominent scientists having exceptionally good memory, with anecdotes if possible, and how it affected their work. It would also be interesting to see examples of the complete opposite, prominent scientists having exceptionally bad memory, and how they made up for it.
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3$\begingroup$ I'm quite close to being convinced that this question is (1) primarily opinion-based, (2) off-topic because memorization capabilities of particular scientists is tangentially related to their scientific work, at best. Javier, if you think this is not a good judgement, please convince me! :) $\endgroup$– Danu ♦Mar 21, 2015 at 17:09
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$\begingroup$ @ Danu (1) I can't see how this is opinion based. There can be either anecdotes, magazeines or books with examples or not. In the first case, there is an objective answer. In the second there can't be, just as with many other questions in the site. (2) I believe this still belongs here, biographies are part of history. I'm just asking for a particular part of the biography of a selected group. I don't believe the memory of a person is correlated to the quality of their research, nor their success, but I'm pretty sure there can be examples where an extremely good memory can be used to aid it. $\endgroup$– hjhjhj57Mar 21, 2015 at 21:49
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1$\begingroup$ A late addition: indeed, unusually good memory does make some things possible that would otherwise be difficult or impossible... $\endgroup$– paul garrettJul 11, 2020 at 23:02
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3 Answers
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The standard example of "complete opposite" was N. Wiener. Anecdotes:
Wiener walking on campus is stopped by someone and they start a mathematical conversation. After the end of the conversation Wiener asks: "In which direction I was walking before I met you?" -"This direction." -"OK, this means I already had my lunch!"
Wiener bought a new house. On the way back home from his office, he forgot where it was. He sees a little girl and asks: "Do you know where the Wieners live? They recently moved to this neighborhood". -"Yes, Daddy! My mother sent me to meet you!".
A student comes to the post office. He sees Wiener walking back and forth, in deep thought. For some time the student hesitates to distract him, but finally addresses him: "Professor Wiener, ..." -"Oh, yes! Wiener! (Addressing the post office clerk) Wiener! Do you have something for Wiener?"
As an example of good memory, Hardy surprised his friends by remembering all cricket scores for many years.
Speaking seriously, from what I read and from my own contacts with outstanding physicists and mathematicians, I can conclude that ability to do original work in science is not correlated with good or bad memory. Like it does not correlate with body weight or height. Unlike weight and height, memory cannot be objectively measured because it is highly selective. (A person may remember cricket scores for many years but poorly memorize verses etc.) Experience shows that this kind of ability simply does not correlate with the ability to do exact sciences.
answered Mar 21, 2015 at 12:12
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3$\begingroup$ Although these stories are kind of funny, I hardly think they can be taken seriously. $\endgroup$– Danu ♦Mar 21, 2015 at 14:46
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2$\begingroup$ Of course, these anecdotes reflect people's perception of Wiener:-) $\endgroup$ Mar 21, 2015 at 16:03
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$\begingroup$ Not precisely the answer I'm looking for, but definitely a funny one! +1 $\endgroup$– hjhjhj57Mar 22, 2015 at 22:13
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2$\begingroup$ I have heard anecdotes 1 and 3 told with a few other famous scientists instead of Wiener. $\endgroup$– ogerardMar 25, 2015 at 9:57
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There are similar stories about Einstein. There are two sides to this. On the one hand: all people, even geniuses, have problems with their memory when they get old. On the other hand: Both Wiener and Einstein were outspoken critics of the cold war hysteria. These stories were part of an agenda to depict them as harmless eccentrics whose opinions on political and ethical matters did not need to be taken seriously.
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1$\begingroup$ I do not understand what cold war has to do with the question. This is not the place to express YOUR opinion on the Cold war. $\endgroup$ Mar 22, 2015 at 1:48
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2$\begingroup$ I don't know why you don't understand it. A lot of leading physicists were ostracised for opposing the weapons race, the cold war, MacCarthyism etc., famously Oppenheimer. $\endgroup$– fdbMar 22, 2015 at 8:59
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2$\begingroup$ Was this intended as a comment under Alexandre's answer? $\endgroup$– Jack MMar 22, 2015 at 9:57
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$\begingroup$ @fdb: I also know many leading physicists who supported the Cold war efforts, on both sides of the war (Teller, Ulam, von Neumann on the US side, and many on the Soviet side). $\endgroup$ Jul 11, 2020 at 11:49
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2$\begingroup$ @AlexandreEremenko, I do think that "the press" (with various unclear motivations...) did attempt to discount the opinions of some scientists when the popular politics was against them... So, I do think the point is relevant, if not decisive for the particular question. $\endgroup$ Jul 11, 2020 at 23:05
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Halmos$^\color{magenta}{\star}$ on von Neumann's prodigious memory:
Even in the city and in the time that produced Szilárd (1898), Wigner (1902), and Teller (1908), von Neumann's brilliance stood out, and the legends about him started accumulating in his childhood. Many of the legends tell about his memory. His love of history began early, and, since he remembered what he learned, he ultimately became an expert on Byzantine history, the details of the trial of Joan of Arc, and minute features of the battles of the American Civil War.
He could, it is said, memorize the names, addresses, and telephone numbers in a column of the telephone book on sight. Some of the later legends tell about his wit and his fondness for humor, including puns and off-color limericks. Speaking of the Manhattan telephone book he said once that he knew all the numbers in it - the only other thing he needed, to be able to dispense with the book altogether, was to know the names that the numbers belonged to.
However, von Neumann was still prone to absent-mindedness:
Von Neumann was definitely not the caricatured college professor. He was a round, pudgy man, always neatly, formally dressed. There are, to be sure, one or two stories of his absentmindedness. Klári told one about the time when he left their Princeton house one morning to drive to a New York appointment, and then phoned her when he reached New Brunswick to ask: "Why am I going to New York?"
$\color{magenta}{\star}$ Paul Richard Halmos, The Legend of John von Neumann, The American Mathematical Monthly, Volume 80, Number 4, April 1973.
answered Jul 11, 2020 at 18:57
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1$\begingroup$ Ah, that article is definitely a bit of hero-worship... but, yes, does confirm the myth, if not the reality. $\endgroup$ Jul 11, 2020 at 23:20