The LIMITS of MATHEMATICS, 1st ed. 1997. 2nd printing 2002 A Course on Information Theory and the Limits of Formal Reasoning Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science Series

As a teenager, Greg created independently of Kolmogorov and Solomonoff, what we call today algorithmic information theory, a sub­ ject of which he is the main architect. His 1965 paper on gedanken experiments on automata, which he wrote when he was in high school, is still of interest today. He was also heavily involved in IBM, where he has worked for almost thirty years, on the development of RISC technology. Greg's results are widely quoted. My favorite portrait of Greg can be found in John Horgan's-a writer for Scientific American-1996 book The End 01 Science. Greg has gotten many honors. He was a guest of distinguished people like Prigogine, the King and Queen of Belgium, and the Crown Prince of Japan. Just to be brief, allow me to paraphrase Bette Davis in All About Eve. She said, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy talk!" Ladies and Gentlemen, Greg Chaitin! [Laughter & Applause] CRISTIAN CALUDE introducing GREGORY CHAITIN at the DMTCS'96 meeting at the University of Auckland.

Randomness in arithmetic and the decline and fall of reductionism in pure mathematics.- Elegant LISP programs.- An invitation to algorithmic information theory.- The limits of mathematics.- Appendix. LISP interpreter in Mathematica.