Courant biography

Anyone who knew Courant, however, also knew that he was an irrepressible optimist. Just a few weeks after his arrival, he met a friend from Germany who was familiar with the mathematician’s love of music (Courant had taught himself how to play the piano at the age of 14) and asked him whether he would be playing quartets again in his new home.

Courant biography

Courant reportedly replied, “In this country not quartets. In this country, octets!” He had quickly absorbed the atmosphere of opportunity and gathered that it would be possible for him to accomplish much in this city.

He was right. Halfway through his two-year term, in 1935, Courant was asked to stay on at NYU and transform its nearly nonexistent math program—there was just one full-time faculty member at the time—into “a strong graduate department.” Eleven years later, having brought in research dollars by the bundle and assembled a world-class faculty, he became director of the university&rsquo