That country will have the greatest security whose informational and scientific situation is adequate to meet the demands that may be put on itthe country in which it is fully realized that information is important as a stage in the continuous process by which we observe the outer world, and act effectively upon it. In other words, no amount of scientific research, carefully recorded in books and papers, and then put into our libraries with labels of secrecy, will be adequate to protect us for any length of time in a world where the effective level of information is perpetually advancing. There is no Maginot Line of the brain. Hawking A thread connects the work of each of the mathematicians listed below and leads to the formulation of the ergodic theorem in 1931. Place their names in an order that corresponds to the order in which they contributed to the development of the 1931 result.
Progress is a corollary of evolution.
Progress is a prerequisite for survival. Progress is a consequence of human nature. Progress is synonymous with the virtue that in the best instances distinguishes humanity. Physical intuition and an understanding of the important problems that challenge scientists can greatly help a mathematician. All worthwhile mathematics has direct and obvious practical application.