Richard Rado

Richard Rado was born in Berlin; he was the second son of LeopoldRado, from Budapest. At one stage of his education he had todecide whether to become a concert pianist or a mathematician.He chose the latter in the belief that he could continue withmusic as a hobby, but that he could never treat mathematicsin that way. He studied at the University of Berlin, but alsospent some time in Göttingen. He took a DPh at Berlin withhis thesis ‘Studien zur Kombinatorik’ [3] underIssai Schur in 1933. During this period he was also influencedby Erhard Schmidt. On 16 March 1933, he married Luise Zadek, the elder daughterof Hermann Zadek, whom he had earlier come to know when he neededa partner to play piano duets. It was indeed a remarkable partnership. As Hitler came to power in 1933, the Rados, being Jewish, madetheir way to England, Richard having obtained a scholarshipof £300 p.a. from Sir Robert Mond through the recommendationof Professor Lindemann (later Lord Cherwell), who had interviewedhim in Berlin, to enable him to study at Cambridge.