Gian-Carlo Rota

Gian-Carlo Rota


In the academic year 1994-95 I was a member of the School of Mathematics of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton. Rota was invited to give a talk at the IAS and I invited him to dinner. We went to a Mexican restaurant in downtown Princeton, and walked back to the Institute. A pleasant half-hour walk. On the way back, at some point Rota stopped and showed me a place telling me that, when he was an undergraduate, sometimes after morning classes, together with some other students, they would run there because they knew that from there they could see Einstein, go home for lunch.