Whereas Nicolas Bourbaki was launching his "Elements", another group of
mathematicians, guided by Ralph P. Boas, Jr. (1912-1992), made up the
character "E. S. Pondiczery" (ESP =: ExtrasSensory Perception) -- member
of the "Royal Institute of Poldavia" (RIP =: Rest In Peace).
Pondiczery's great math achievement was on the revolutionary and curious
mathematical theory of "lion hunting". Apparently, this theory was conceived
informally at Princeton, in the late thirties, by Frank Smithies and Ralph P.
Boas, Jr.
Submitting a funny paper to the American Mathematical Monthly, Pondiczery
asked in a covering letter that he be allowed to sign it under a pseudonym,
because of the humorous nature of the essay.
The editor agreed, and
"A contribution to the mathematical theory of big game hunting"
by H. Petard, of Princeton NJ.
saw publication in vol. 45 of AMM, pages 446-447, August 1938; probably
the first known example of a pseudonym of second order.
"This little known mathematical discipline has not, of recent years,
received in the literature the attention which, in our opinion, it
deserves. [...]
Like many other branches of knowledge to which mathematical techniques
have been applied in recent years, the Mathematical Theory of Big Game
Hunting has a singularly happy unifying effect on the most diverse
branches of the exact sciences. [...]
The author desires to acknowledge his indebtness to the Trivial Club
of St. John's College, Cambridge, England; to the MIT chapter of the
Society for Useless Research; to the FOP, of Princeton University; and
to numerous individual contributors, known and unknown, conscious and
unconscious."
In 1949, Boas wrote a praiseful and a short account about a new Bourbaki
volume in the Encyclopedia Britannica (Book of the Year), and at the same
time remarked:
"...as everyone knows, Bourbaki is the pen name of a group
of French mathematicians".
Nicolas Bourbaki found this remark slanderous, and himself counterattacked
in a letter to the editor as follows:
"Thank you for your kind words about my book. However, I am sad
that you deny my existence. Just last year I gave a lecture to
the Association for Symbolic Logic. When the authorities in the
USA refused to give me a visa, the lecture was presented by my
disciple, Andre Weil. His colleague Mac Lane, at the University
of Chicago, can, I am sure, verify my existence."
Saunders Mac Lane confirmed that:
"The editor then wrote me. My office was next door to Weil's;
Andre saw the editor's letter and made it clear how I should
respond. I did so respond. To my astonishment, I am still on good
terms with the Encyclopedia. There was also a firm rumour that
Boas did not exist."
Greetings from Montevideo,
Julio GC