Russell Abrams

I lived in Sharon starting at age three, and went to Sharon Elementary, Junior High, and High School up through the 9th grade. I used to hang out with Gary Tamkin, Judy Bernstein, Ronald Kovner, Donald Siegel, and a bunch of others. The summer after the 9th grade I moved abruptly--along with my family--to Warwick, RI, where my father had gotten a new job. I was plunged into a whole new scene with a new group of kids. I had most of my classes with the same kids, so it didn't take too long to get to know them.

At the beginning of the 11th grade, for some reason, I got intensely interested in recent work in logic and mathematics and began trying to read a bunch of books I had no business trying to read. The philosopher/logician I wanted to study with was at Harvard. Luckily, I got admitted and took courses with him my first and second semesters. The second semester was a graduate seminar on his newly published book Set Theory and Its Logic. It was great! (I worked hard and did well.) I was also interested in a number of other philosophical areas, such as ethics, aesthetics, the theory of knowledge, etc. so I majored in philosophy. I had an amazing time and a lot of freedom as there was no pretense that any of this had any practical significance. I met a number of classmates that I had a lot in common with.

I wanted to continue studying philosophy but I also wanted to go to India. (I had developed an interest in Indian spirituality and become a very serious meditator.) Luckily, I got into the Yale graduate program and they agreed to put off my admission for a year. I travelled around India for several eye-opening months. The highlight of my trip was my stay in Varanasi, the sacred city on the shores of the Ganges, where religious Indians from all over India go to die, have their bodies cremated, and have their ashes thrown into the river. It is impossible to describe the chaos, but I was deeply moved, and will never forget the experience.

To make a long story short, I was at Yale for four years, taking all kinds of courses and seminars. In the end I wrote my dissertation in the philosophy of mathematics--focussing on the amazing break-throughs of Cantor and Gödel.

[To be continued]