Gödel’s Theorem was first announced at the Philosophy of Science Conference in Königsberg, Germany (Hilbert’s home). The reception was tepid, so much so that it wasn’t even mentioned in the conference proceedings. But another genius recognized the implications of Gödel’s work: von Neumann (one genius recognizes another). On the last day of the Kroningsberg Conference, in fact, toward the end of the final panel discussion, Kurt Gödel, in a single sentence, reduced all previous discussions of the conference to irrelevance and struck directly at the foundations of mathematics. He said: “It is possible to give examples of propositions that, even if contextually true, are not provable in the formal system of classical mathematics. In other words, there are truths in mathematics that cannot be proved by mathematics: mathematics is not complete.” The audience politely ignored Gödel’s carefully crafted bombshell statement, as if it were a tasteless joke at dinner. Only one person understood the significance of that statement: Johnny von Neumann, who, after the round table discussion, approached Godel, took him aside, and questioned him about the details. The next day, Hilbert would give his retirement speech, in which he reiterated that there are no insoluble problems in mathematics, and that “wir mussen wissen – wir werden wissen” (we must know – we will know). But he hadn’t realized that Kurt Godel had just proven Hilbert wrong…
