Abstract

Paul Erdős was a mathematicianpar excellencewhose results and initiatives have had a large impact and made a strong imprint on the doing of and thinking about mathematics. A mathematician of alacrity, detail, and collaboration, Erdős in his six decades of work moved and thought quickly, entertained increasingly many parameters, and wrote over 1500 articles, the majority with others. Hismodus operandiwas to drive mathematics through cycles of problem, proof, and conjecture, ceaselessly progressing and ever reaching, and hismodus vivendiwas to be itinerant in the world, stimulating and interacting about mathematics at every port and capital.