At 25, Kurt Gödel proved there can never be a mathematical “theory of everything.” Columnist Natalie Wolchover explores the implications. In 1931, by turning logic on itself, Kurt Gödel proved a pair ...

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - APRIL 19: A detailed view of the blackboard with theoretical physics equations in chalk by Alberto Ramos, Theoretical Physics Fellow and visitor, Antonio Gonzalez-Arroyo from the ...

Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, which proved that no formal mathematical system can demonstrate every mathematical truth, is a landmark of modern thought. It's a simple but profound statement, but the ...

Kurt Gödel, the man who ruined mathematics, was one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. He was born in 1906, smack-bang in the middle of the greatest crisis that maths has ever known.

At 24, Kurt Gödel established himself as perhaps the greatest logician of the 20th century. Standing against the intellectual currents of his time, he unveiled two theorems in 1930 showing that a ...

Last week I explained how a then 25-year-old logician, Kurt Gödel, overturned a basic assumption of many mathematicians in the early 20th century. Even as experts were building a seemingly firm ...

In 1931, the Austrian logician Kurt Gödel pulled off arguably one of the most stunning intellectual achievements in history. Mathematicians of the era sought a solid foundation for mathematics: a set ...

"All Cretans are liars", said Epimenides, a Cretan. But this means that his statement must be a lie too. But then it is false that Cretans are liars and the statement must be true. So what now?