Julia Robinson and Hilbert’s tenth problem (DVD). (English) Zbl 1235.01023

Csicsery, George

Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press (ISBN 978-1-56881-428-5). DVD. (2008).

This is a portrait of the female mathematician Julia (Bowman) Robinson (1919-1985) filmed by George Csicsery who also made [I want to be a mathematician. A conversation with Paul Halmos (MAA Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC) (2009; Zbl 1180.01053)]. Robinson was one of the first American women mathematicians and made groundbreaking contributions to the later solution of Hilbert’s Tenth Problem. Formulated at the turn of the 20th century, Hilbert asks whether a general algorithm can be devised to decide the solvability of Diophantine equations. The story of her mostly tragic childhood and later life devoted entirely to mathematical study is told lively by C. Reid, her sister [Notices Am. Math. Soc. 43, No. 12, 1486–1492 (1996; Zbl 1042.01530)] and biographer [Julia. A life in mathematics (MAA, Mathematical Association of America, Washington, DC) (1996; Zbl 0868.01020)], backed by archival footage and photographic material from mathematicians with whom she collaborated in Russia and the United States. The mathematical details were moved to the extra features of the DVD, explaining the main ideas of Fibonacci and the golden mean, From Diophantus to David Hilbert, Decidability, Beyond Hilbert’s tenth problem and Turing machines.

Reviewer: Andrea Bréard (Wasquehal)

MSC:

01A70	Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies
03-03	History of mathematical logic and foundations
01A60	History of mathematics in the 20th century

Keywords:

Julia Robinson; Hilbert’s Tenth Problem

Citations:

Zbl 1180.01053; Zbl 1042.01530; Zbl 0868.01020