Yeti

Abstract

My plane became airborne and flew north. Soon it was over the Bass Strait separating Tasmania from the mainland of Australia. I was on my way to Teheran where I was to be the guest of Abolghassem Zaghari’s family. Abol was a mathematical friend of mine; together we had sat at the feet of the great Professor Richard Ritter von Mises learning fluid dynamics. From Teheran I was scheduled to fly to Israel and spend several months there working on a book with Phil Rabinowitz of the Weizmann Institute. We mathematicians, possibly weak in numbers, have a Masonic fellowship which extends across the globe. Joined by a system of research papers and its apparatus of mutual references and cross references, occasional collaborative work, and personal friendship, we can travel from continent to continent with reasonable expectations of finding a flop, a meal, and an invitation to present a colloquium talk.