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for this examination?” Of course, this remark upset Gödel tremendously, which was exactly what Einstein intended and he was greatly amused when he saw the worry on Gödel’s face. When we came to Trenton, we were ushered into a big room, and while normally the witnesses are questioned separately from the candidate, because of Einstein’s appearance, an exception was made and all three of us were invited to sit down together, Gödel, in the center. The examinor [sic] first asked Einstein and then me whether we thought Gödel would make a good citizen. We assured him that this would certainly be the case, that he was a distinguished man, etc. And then he turned to Gödel and said, “Now, Mr. Gödel, where do you come from?”

Gödel: Where I come from? Austria.

The Examinor: What kind of government did you have in Austria?

Gödel: It was a republic, but the constitution was such that it finally was changed into a dictatorship.

The Examinor: Oh! This is very bad. This could not happen in this country.

Gödel: Oh, yes, I can prove it.

So of all the possible questions, just that critical one was asked by the Examinor. Einstein and I were horrified during this exchange; the Examinor was intelligent enough to quickly quieten Gödel and say, “Oh God, let’s not go into this,” and broke off the examination at this point, greatly to our relief. We finally left, and as we were walking out towards the elevators, a man came running after us with a piece of paper and a pen and approached Einstein and asked him for his autograph. Einstein obliged. When we went down in the elevator, I turned to Einstein and said, “It must be dreadful to be persecuted in this fashion by so many people.” Einstein said to me, “You know, this is just the last remnant of cannibalism.” I was puzzled and said, “How is that?” He said: “Yes, formerly they wanted your blood, now they want your ink.”

Then we left, drove back to Princeton, and as we came to the corner of Mercer Street, I asked Einstein whether he wanted to go to the Institute or home. He said, “Take me home, my work is not worth anything anyway anymore.” Then he quoted from an American political song (I unfortunately do not recall the words, I may have it in my notes and I would certainly recognize it if somebody would suggest the particular phrase). Then off to Einstein’s home again, and then he turned back once more toward Gödel, and said, “Now, Gödel, this was your one but last examination.” Gödel: “Goodness, is there still another one to come?” and he was already worried. And then Einstein said, “Gödel, the next examination is when you step into your grave.” Gödel: “But Einstein, I don’t step into my grave,” and then Einstein said, “Gödel, that’s just the joke of it!” and with that he departed. I drove Gödel home. Everybody was relieved that this formidable affair was over; Gödel had his head free again to go about problems of philosophy and logic.

Late in life Gödel suffered from periods of serious mental disorder, which resulted in his refusal to eat. He died on January 14, 1978, of malnutrition and exhaustion.

Contrary to some popular misconceptions, Gödel’s incompleteness theorems do not imply that some truths will never become known. We also cannot infer from the theorems that the human capacity for understanding is somehow limited. Rather, the theorems only demonstrate the weaknesses and shortcomings of formal systems. It may therefore come as a surprise that in spite of the theorems’ broad import for the philosophy of mathematics, their impact on the effectiveness of mathematics as a theory-building machinery has been rather minimal. In fact, during the decades surrounding the publication of Gödel’s proof, mathematics was reaching some of its most spectacular successes in physical theories of the universe. Far from being abandoned as unreliable, mathematics and its logical conclusions were becoming increasingly essential for the understanding of the cosmos.

What this meant, however, was that the puzzle of the “unreasonable effectiveness” of mathematics became even thornier. Think about this for