Blind Mathematicians

Excellent post! The fact that blindness can actually be an asset in modeling higher dimensional objects (or complex ones in 3D) in mathematics is interesting. It reminded me of reading that the name "swallowtail" was coined by a blind mathematician (name escapes me now) for a certain kind of bifurcation in catastrophe theory (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophe_theory#Swallowtail_catastrophe" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophe_theory#Swallowtail_...</a>).<p>On a different but related note: Some people in the deaf community has long argued that deafness is not an handicap and in fact can be considered as "a difference in perception", akin to having a different native language or coming from a different country. Although the more radical aspects of such a position is untenable (some deaf parents declare they would rather have deaf child rather than a gearing one) the fact that having constraints put on perception will lead to increases in other aspects of it is quite interesting, I think. Should we call it "the conservation of perception"?

&#62; The following anecdote illustrates the hazards of being editorial assistant of the <i>Annals</i> in the early thirties. A manuscript was submitted by the brilliant Soviet mathematician, Lev Pontryagin. Since paper was then exceptionally scarce in the Soviet Union, Pontryagin had taken wrapping paper, torn it into appropriate-sized pieces, and gone to work on his typewriter. Unfortunately, Pontryagin was blind. The wrapping paper was torn unevenly, and a good portion of the words and symbols in the margins were missing. No matter. The Annals editorial assistant retyped the paper, supplying all the missing symbols. What a hero!<p>Edgar R. Lorch, <i>Szeged in 1934</i>, American Mathematical Monthly, vol. 100, #3, pp.220–221

As someone who's been slowly going deaf since infancy, these sorts of stories can be really inspiring.