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Joseph Traub and Carnegie Mellon
BK:
How did you contact Joe Traub?
HW:
In 1969, when I worked as an assistant, I attended a summer
school in Gdańsk, where I had a short presentation. I said that
I was interested in nonlinear equations. That was when Stefan
Paszkowski referred me to J.F. Traub’s book from 1964 about
solving nonlinear equations.
BK:
Thanks to Paszkowski, Joe Traub’s name appears for the first time. . .
HW:
Yes. After I returned to Warsaw, I hastened to the library
on Śniadeckich Street and that is where I read Traub’s book.
It was the best mathematical library in the whole Eastern bloc
– there you could find all of the books published in the West.
People from East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria came to
this library. It was difficult to check anything out there, because
there was usually only one copy of any book, so a visitor had
to read the books on the spot. There I saw that I was able to
prove several Traub’s conjectures. The natural consequence of
this was my letter that I sent to Traub. I wrote that I knew the
answers to some of the questions that he posed in his book from
1964, and the answers are this and this, etc. At the time, letters
from Poland to the United States took about four weeks to arrive,
and indeed – after more or less two months I received a response.
Traub wrote that this is indeed fascinating, and he would like to
receive my paper. If I would like to submit it for publication, he
8. Joseph Traub and Carnegie Mellon
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is on the Editorial Board of
SIAM Journal of Numerical Analysis,
and he would love to handle the article. I sent the article to
him after writing an English version. Independently, I received
a letter from him with the information that in May of 1973 he
would be organizing a conference at Carnegie-Mellon University
in Pittsburgh and he was inviting me to participate and offering
to cover the costs of the journey and the stay.
I received this letter in March, maybe. It was completely
impossible, even with the best of efforts and intentions, to get
a passport in two months – at the time nobody kept passports
in desk drawers. American visas were also difficult to come by.
I wrote back that it is unrealistic for me to make it in May. So then
Traub wrote me back – again, two months later – that I should
show up whenever I could. He sent me an official invitation
without specifying the time period, with a declaration that all
costs would be covered. This invitation made Professor Turski
very happy, because it went along with his plan to build in
Warsaw a world-class center for applied mathematics. He assured
me that he would get me a passport. From what I remember
my visa was organized by Carnegie-Mellon, by contacting the
consulate in Warsaw. And so on September 16, 1973, I came to
the United States for the first time. I remember the date, because
on September 17, 1973, Poland was playing the decisive soccer
match against England in the 1974 World Cup qualifications.
That was the famous match at Wembley Stadium.
By the way, I had no idea that I would have trouble finding out
the results of the match. I tried for several days – the American
newspapers said nothing, the television was only covering base-
ball – nothing about soccer! Finally, in the main library of the
university, where they brought newspapers from Europe, after
a few days, I saw that the result was 1:1. Until this day, I don’t
understand why soccer has not become popular in the United
States. Many fans of soccer, who came to the United States from
Europe and South America, could not inspire enthusiasm for the
game. I saw at least two serious attempts to popularize soccer
in the States. Pelé was responsible for the first attempt, and the
second was led by David Beckham. Both attempts failed.
Kup książkę
62
On mathematics, complexity, and life
BK:
How long was your first visit to Carnegie Mellon University?
HW:
The invitation didn’t specify a length of time, and when
I arrived, the university offered me a year-long stay. I refused, first,
because I came without my wife Grażyna, and second, because
I didn’t want to create an awkward situation for Professor Turski.
So I offered to stay until Christmas (this was in 1973), and maybe
to return the following year with Grażyna. Sometime later – after
I returned to Poland with an invitation for the 1974–75 academic
year, I spoke with Professor Turski. He thought that a trip with
my wife would be difficult to arrange and tried to convince me to
go even without Grażyna. I did not agree, and luckily Professor
Turski was able to organize passports for both of us. We wanted
to take advantage of Grażyna’s stay in the United States in order
to consult some gynecologists.
Let’s digress for a bit and talk about the Traub marriage: in
1974, before we left for the United States, Joe Traub with his
wife Pamela were attending an IFIP Congress in Sweden. On their
way back, they came to visit Poland for a week. You met them at
the time as well. I wanted to show them Cracow and Zakopane.
We took a train to Cracow, and from there we hired a taxi for
a whole day to go to Zakopane. The taxi driver charged us what he
thought was a lot of money, but the dollar was worth so much at
the time that it amounted to less than twenty dollars. The driver
drove like a madman along ‘Zakopianka,’ which is the main road
to Zakopane, with each cigarette he lit, he tilted his head and the
car veered off the road to the left, and Joe cried: “He’s going to kill
us!” “I’ve been driving like this for thirty years, man, why would
we have an accident today?” the driver responded. I showed our
guests the famous mountain lake called Morskie Oko (The Eye
of the Sea). We tried to go to see the legendary Black Lake, but
there it was Pamela who was crying – she was afraid of heights.
Pamela fell in love with sheepskin coats in the town of Nowy Targ
and she bought one for a comical price for her of some twenty
or so dollars after converting from zlotys. Due to the duty fee,
the sheepskin stayed in Poland. We brought it to Pamela when
Grażyna and I came to the States. The pictures we took at the
Kup książkę
8. Joseph Traub and Carnegie Mellon
63
Hala Gasienicowa in the Tatra Mountains during the Traubs’
˛
visit to Poland hung for years in Joe’s office in New York.
Let’s go back to my time in the United States in 1973. At first,
I had many ‘newcomer’ adventures. I was sent on this journey
without a single dollar in my pocket. I smuggled through ten
British pounds which I received from my friend Marcin Majda.
I flew on the Warsaw – New York City route with Poles who had
emigrated out of Poland. One of them was very surprised that
I didn’t have any money. He took two dollars out of his pocket,
and lo and behold, I was the proud owner of two dollars! In New
York I had to change airports from Kennedy to La Guardia. Some
woman official realized that I didn’t have any money and she gave
me a free bus ticket. So not spending a penny I found myself at
the La Guardia airport, and from there I flew to Pittsburgh. I sat
next to a man whose heritage was Polish. He didn’t speak Polish,
but he liked Poles. His question gave me chills: “What will you do
if nobody is waiting for you at the airport?” The expression on my
face must have told him that I am not at all prepared for something
like that. “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll take you to my home.” Luckily,
there was somebody waiting for me at the airport – my later friend
and colleague H.T. Kung, a Chinese American man from Taiwan
who had received his PhD a few months before I came.
BK:
Who was his thesis advisor?
HW:
Traub. Kung’s thesis was formally in pure mathematics.
He began his studies at the University of Washington in Seattle,
where Traub taught for only a year. Later, Traub was offered
the position of head of the Computer Science Department at
Carnegie Mellon, and he took Kung with him. Kung finished his
PhD in Pittsburgh in the Department of Mathematics.
As I already said, Kung was waiting for me at the airport.
He mistook my new friend from the flight for me. I was well
dressed by my wife, while my friend from the plane looked miser-
able. He fit perfectly an American’s imagination of what somebody
from Eastern Europe would look like. Kung drove me to the hotel
quickly and without any problems – from what I remember with
a cracked windshield.
Kup książkę
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On mathematics, complexity, and life
I met Traub the next day. That’s all very well, but I still only
had two dollars and ten pounds. I gently informed Traub. There
was some resulting chaos (“how could they let you out without
any money?”), there was a collection, and I became the proud
owner of fifty dollars. Then there was my first encounter with
a bank: I asked the lady at the window “are you free?” instead
of “are you open?” She punished me with a glare. The first time
I opened a bank account – “saving” or “checking account”? – this
was all very new for a first time newcomer from Poland.
The next day I had a seminar, which stretched out through
the next two meetings. There were questions and discussions and
so forth. I shared a room with Kung, who helped me very much,
among other ways – with the language. The first letter came to me
at the beginning of my time in the United States – a letter from my
mom, sent from Poland before my flight out, wishing me a good
stay. I also received an invitation to an annual party organized
by Traub, as head, for all of the department employees. That
is where I met Traub’s (second) wife, Pamela. Because Traub’s
book from 1964 was dedicated “to Susan,” I nearly came out to
Pamela with “nice to meet you Susan.” Kung with his wife also
tried to introduce me to local life in Pittsburgh.
Traub wanted to organize for the three of us – myself, Traub
and Kung – writing a paper. Kung, I felt, after receiving his PhD,
was not too eager to take on this project. He managed to loosen
his bonds with Traub, and in the end only I remained as Traub’s
‘research mate.’ Later, Kung’s interests definitively went towards
hardware questions. He moved to Harvard and made a career
in the field. The other person visiting Carnegie-Mellon was Leslie
Valiant. He tried to obtain a position at Carnegie-Mellon when
I was there, and he did not receive Traub’s support, which Traub
later regretted. One of Valiant’s weaknesses, according to Joe, was
his poor American English. Valiant was British, after all. Later,
Valiant went to Harvard and in 1987 received the Nevanlinna
Prize in Mathematical Aspects of Information Sciences.
BK:
Since we are already on the subject – Kung seemed like a very
talented individual who knew exactly as much mathematics as he needed
for his work.
Kup książkę

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