Menu ☰

Back to Top

Physics History Network

Over 1000 biographies of physicists and histories of institutions with information pertaining to their lives, careers, and research.

Tip: Search within this page by using Ctrl + F or ⌘ + F


Search Our Catalogs

Archives Books

Collections

Emilio Segré Visual Archives Digital Collections Oral Histories Archival Finding Aids Physics History Network Member Society Portals Ethical Cataloging Statement

Preservation and Support

Donating Materials Suggest a Book Purchase Saving Archival Collections Grants to Archives Documentation Projects History Newsletters

Center for History of Physics

Scholarship & Outreach

Main Navigation

HomeAboutTopic GuidesFeedback

Table of Contents

Biography

AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjects

Relationships

PeopleInstitutions

Resources

Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as Subject

Stanislaw M. Ulam

Photo

Dates

April 13, 1909 – May 13, 1984

Authorized Form of Name

Ulam, Stanislaw M.

Additional Forms of Names

Ulam, S. M. (Stanislaw M.)

Ulam, S. M. (Stanislaw Marcin), 1909-1984

Ulam, Stanislaw Marcin, 1909-1984

Biography

Abstract

Stanislaw Ulam was Professor of Mathematics at University of Colorado, Boulder (1965-1977). Other institutional affiliations included Los Alamos Laboratory. His research interests included set theory, topology, ergodic theory, probability, cellular automata theory, the study of nonlinear processes, the function of real variables, mathematical logic, number theory, the Monte Carlo method, hydrodynamics, and nuclear propulsion.

Important Dates

April 1, 1909Birth, Lviv (Ukraine).

1932Obtained MA, Polytechnic Institute of Poland (Lʹvivsʹkyĭ politekhnichnyĭ instytut), Lviv (Ukraine).

1933Obtained DSc, Polytechnic Institute of Poland (Lʹvivsʹkyĭ politekhnichnyĭ instytut), Lviv (Ukraine).

1936Member, Institute for Advanced Study.

1936 – 1940Junior Fellow, Society of Fellows (1936-1939) and Lecturer (1939-1940), Harvard University.

1940 – 1943Instructor (1940-1941) and Assistant Professor (1941-1943), University of Wisconsin, Madison.

1943 – 1967Researcher (1943-1957) and Research Advisor (1957-1967), Los Alamos Laboratory, Los Alamos (N.M.).

1945 – 1946Associate Professor, University of Southern California.

1951 – 1952Visiting Lecturer, Harvard University.

1956 – 1957Visiting Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

1961 – 1962Visiting Professor, University of Colorado, Boulder.

1963Visiting Professor, University of California, San Diego.

1965 – 1977Professor of Mathematics (1965-1977) and Professor of Biomathematics, Medical School (1968-1975), University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder (Colo.).

1966Member, National Academy of Sciences.

1974 – 1984Graduate Research Professor, University of Florida.

1979 – 1984Visiting Professor of Biomathematics, Medical School, University of Colorado, Boulder.

1980 – 1984Visiting Professor, Neurosciences Institute, Rockefeller University.

1982 – 1983Visiting Professor, University of California, Davis.

May 13, 1984Death, Santa Fe (N.M.).

Occupation

Mathematician.

Places

Birth

Lviv (Ukraine)

Graduate Education

Lviv (Ukraine)

Employment

Los Alamos (N.M.)

Boulder (Colo.)

Death

Santa Fe (N.M.)

Subjects

Atomic bomb.

Fusion.

Mathematical physics.

Mathematics.

Topology

Relationships

People

Family

Auerbach, Anna

Mother.

Ulam, Adam B., 1922-2000

Brother.

Ulam, Claire, 1944-

Daughter.

Ulam, Francoise

Wife.

Ulam, Jozef

Father.

Colleagues

Agnew, Harold M.

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Bardeen, John

Both employed at Harvard University.

Bargmann, V. (Valentine), 1908-1989

Both employed at Institute for Advanced Study.

Bohr, Niels, 1885-1962

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Bradbury, Norris, 1909-1997

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Bridgman, P. W. (Percy Williams), 1882-1961

Both employed at Harvard University.

Chadwick, James, 1891-1974

Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Conant, James Bryant, 1893-1978

Both employed at Harvard University.

Dash, J. G., 1923-

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Duffield, Robert B.

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Feenberg, Eugene

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Fisk, James B. (James Brown), 1910-1981

Both employed at Harvard University.

Fitch, Val L., 1923-2015

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Griggs, David, 1911-1974

Both employed at Harvard University.

Kerr, Donald M.

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Knapp, Edward A.

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Morse, Marston, 1892-1977

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Reines, Frederick, 1918-1998

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Robinson, C. Paul

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Rosenbluth, M. N.

Both employed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.

Starr, Chauncey

Both employed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Teller, Edward, 1908-2003

Collaborated on the Teller-Ulam design for thermonuclear weapons which led to the development of the hydrogen bomb. Both employed at Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project.

Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Weyl, Hermann, 1885-1955

Both employed at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Additional

Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005

Fermi, Enrico, 1901-1954

Feynman, Richard P. (Richard Phillips), 1918-1988

Gamow, George, 1904-1968

Garwin, Richard L.

Hawkins, David, 1913-2002

Kemeny, John G.

Mandelbrot, Benoît B.

O'Keefe, John Aloysius, 1916-

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 1904-1967

Seaborg, Glenn T. (Glenn Theodore), 1912-1999

Segrè, Emilio

Taylor, Theodore B., 1925-

Von Kármán, Theodore, 1881-1963

Weisskopf, Victor Frederick, 1908-2002

Institutions

Major Positions

Harvard University. Department of Mathematics

Junior Fellow; Lecturer; and Visiting Lecturer.

Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.)

Member.

Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory

Researcher and Research Advisor.

University of Colorado (Boulder campus). Medical Department

Visiting Professor and Professor of Biomathematics.

University of Colorado Boulder. Department of Mathematics

Professor of Mathematics and Visiting Professor.

University of Florida. Department of Mathematics

Graduate Research Professor.

University of Southern California. College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences

Associate Professor.

University of Wisconsin--Madison. Mathematics Department

Instructor and Assistant Professor.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

Lʹvivsʹkyĭ politekhnichnyĭ instytut

Obtained MS (1932) and DSc (1933).

Manhattan Project (U.S.)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mathematics

Visiting Professor.

National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Member.

Rockefeller University

Visiting Professor, Neurosciences Institute.

University of California, Davis. Department of Mathematics

Visiting Professor.

University of California, San Diego. Department of Mathematics

Visiting Professor.

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Los Alamos Science special issue on Stanislaw Ulam, 1987.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Stanislaw Ulam papers, 1916-1984.

Library.

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Stanislaw Ulam papers.

Archives.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Group CRM-1, Mail Stop C-322, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA

Subject

David Hawkins papers, 1863-2001.

Libraries. Archives Department

University of Colorado

Campus Box 184, Boulder, CO 80302-0184, USA

John Von Neumann papers, 1912-1996 (bulk 1935-1957).

Manuscript Division

Library of Congress

James Madison Memorial Building, First Street and Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA

Oral history interview with John A. O'Keefe, 1993 February 2.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with John G. Kemeny, 1984 June 7.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Norris Edwin Bradbury, 1976 February 11.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Richard Garwin, 2012 December 20.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Ted Taylor, 1995 February 13.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Published Resources

Author

Adventures of a mathematician / S. M. Ulam.

My world line; an informal autobiography. Foreword by Stanislaw M. Ulam.

Subject

"Interview with Stanislaw M. Ulam," in Mathematical People: Profiles and Interviews, ed. Donald J. Albers and G. L. Alexanderson (Boston: Birkhäuser: 1985), 353-361

From cardinals to chaos : reflections on the life and legacy of Stanislaw Ulam / editor Necia Grant Cooper ; associate editors, Roger Eckhardt, Nancy Shera.

From Paris to Santa Fe: highlights of a personal odyssey across the twentieth century.