Scottish Book

Part of the Scottish Book with notes of Stefan Banach and Stanislaw Ulam.

The Scottish Book (Polish: Księga Szkocka) was a thick notebook used by mathematicians of the Lwów School of Mathematics in Poland for jotting down problems meant to be solved. The notebook was named after the "Scottish Café" where it was kept.

Originally, the mathematicians who gathered at the cafe would write down the problems and equations directly on the cafe's marble table tops, but these would be erased at the end of each day, and so the record of the preceding discussions would be lost. The idea for the book was most likely originally suggested by Stefan Banach's wife, Łucja Banach. Stefan or Łucja Banach purchased a large notebook and left it with the proprietor of the cafe.[1][2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Raikhel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Visser was invoked but never defined (see the help page).