Gian-Carlo Rota on Alonzo Church (2008)

At every lecture, Professor Rota, wore the same three piece brown suit and a red tie while he taught us probability. I was fascinated with random numbers and their generation so I went to visit him in his office to talk to him about my ideas. I knocked on his closed door, but there was no reply. Instead I heard a bell ring. My second knock was again echoed by a bell ringing. Peeking through the door, I saw Professor Rota sitting at his desk behind a table covered with high stacks of books, the floor was likewise covered in stacks of math books, and behind him on the floor was a mound of journals. There he was, holding a large bell with a long wooden handle.

What an experience it was taking a class from him. He was funny, charming, unique, and totally brilliant. It's a shame that I was only 19 and didn't have enough mathematical sophistication to get the most out of that class.

The OP is at https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065628/http://www-histor..., but it's an incomplete excerpt—it doesn't mention Church's collection of science fiction novels, for example.

Better to read the entire piece at https://www34.homepage.villanova.edu/robert.jantzen/princeto.... It's vintage Rota. Every sentence, every paragraph is spellbinding.