Mathematics, Department of

 

Date of this Version

6-1972

Comments

Published in The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 79, No. 6 (Jun. - Jul., 1972), pp. 609-614 Copyright 1972 Mathematical Association of America. Used by permission.

Abstract

Professor Leo Moser' was known throughout the Mathematical Community as a significant researcher and excellent lecturer. I first met Leo during the Summer Research Institute in the Theory of Numbers held at the University of Colorado in 1959. After talking with him and hearing his lectures during the Institute, I felt that arrangements would have to be made in the near future for a visit to Nebraska. During the academic year 1962-63 while Professor Moser was on a lecture tour for the MAA, I invited him to present two research lectures to the Nebraska Section on May 3 and 4, 1963. He responded: "Professor D. W. Western of Franklin and Marshall College is my booking agent and I will write him immediately and find out whether it would be possible to clear May 3rd and 4th for me and thus enable me to give the lectures in Nebraska." His generosity was revealed in a subsequent letter in which he asserted: "According to a letter just received from Professor D. W. Western, I am to lecture in Cleveland, Ohio on May 1st and 2nd and in St. Petersburg, Florida on May 6th and 7th. Assuming connections are not too bad I should be able to get to Nebraska in time. If I find that the connections are not easy then I can move the Cleveland date back by one week I imagine. My talks at Nebraska will be on Number Theory and have the general title "Some New Applications of Generating Series." As usual his lectures were delivered with vigor, humor, and clarity. Following his last lecture I invited him to my office in order to discuss some of his results, and during our conversation the subject of mathematical limericks was mentioned and he asked if I would like to record some of his and other's limericks. (I had previously received his permission to record his lectures.) The main purpose of this paper is to present a transcription of these limericks and other verse, recorded on May 4, 1963.

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