Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0008698, Fri, 3 Oct 2003 09:46:18 -0700

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Fw: Fw: Bernoulli of lemniscate famenot buried in Bern
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----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Krimmel
Thank you, Carolyn Kunin for your reply below and for the excellent picture of the Roman wreaths with lemnisci attached. They were more than I had hoped for. Also thanks for the Schmitz article.

The frog is fun.

Mary Krimmel

At 12:14 PM 10/2/03 -0700, you wrote:


Dear Mary,

Bernoulli should have been buried in Bern for the alliteration. Mea culpa, you are correct, he was (and remains) buried in Basel. Looking the "L word" up in the correct edition of Webster's surprised me in that it gives not only Bernoulli's name as inventor, but even the mathematical formula.

I haven't been able to locate an illustration of a wreath with lemniscus attached, but while looking found that the lemniscus is also a structure in the brain. Remembering all the brain imagery in Pale Fire makes me think this might be worth pursuing.

I am reading a little book on Ada Lovelace and her mathematical pursuits, and find that she did some work with Bernoulli numbers, and that at least the author of the book, Joan Baum, has conjectured that Ada Lovelace may have something to do with Nabokov's Ada.

I use the word frog for question from the German "frage" -- just for fun. Some frogs are silly, of course, some are inconsequential, and some are wonderful. I love frogs!

Carolyn
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