A novel about the limits of scientific knowledge set at the Institute for
Advanced Study at Princeton. Mathematicians Kurt Gödel and John von
Neumann are among the principle characters (along with Albert Einstein and
Robert Oppenheimer, of course). I have not read it yet, but it seems to
have gotten mixed reviews from the professional critics (which by itself
may not mean anything) who all agree that it succeeds as scientific
discourse but disagree as to the literary quality.
John Casti is a well known author of non-fiction books on popular
mathematics, although his recent Mathematical
Mountaintops had to be withdrawn from publication after charges of
plagiarism. He has also written another historical novel that qualifies
(just barely) as mathematical fiction: The Cambridge
Quintet.
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