the statement of the problem is comprehensible only to specialists in
the field. Two of these problems, the Navier-Stokes equation and the
Yang-Mills theory, are in the realm of mathematical physics. Solutions
to these problems will enable a better understanding of the physical
universe, and may actually enable significant technological advances.
One of these problems, however, is related to one of the most mystify-
ing of life’s little annoyances: Why is your car never ready at the time
the garage promised it?
Putting a Man on the Moon
When President John F. Kennedy promised that America would put a
man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, he almost certainly did not
foresee many of the numerous side effects that the space race would pro-
duce. Of course, the space race gave the microelectronic industry a huge
boost, leading to calculators and personal computers. Two lesser results
were Tang, an orange-f lavored drink for the astronauts that would soon
be found on supermarket shelves, and Tef lon, a superslick material that
would not only be used as a coating for numerous cooking devices, but
would also insinuate itself into the English language as a synonym for a
politician to whom charges of malfeasance would not adhere. Finally, the
space race resulted in a series of insights as to why the world never seems
to function as well as it should.
America had previously engaged in one other mammoth technological
undertaking, the Manhattan Project, but developing the atomic bomb
was relatively simple when compared to the problem of putting a man on
the moon—at least from the standpoint of scheduling. There were three
major components of the Manhattan Project—bomb design and testing,
uranium production, and mission training. The first two could proceed
independently, although actual testing awaited the arrival of sufficient
fissionable material from factories at places such as Hanford and Oak
Ridge. Mission training began only when the specifications for the weapon
were reasonably well known, and was relatively simple—make certain
there was a plane that could carry it and a crew that could f ly it.
From the standpoint of scheduling, putting a man on the moon was a
far more difficult task. There was a tremendous amount of coordination
needed between the industrial complex, the scientific branch, and the
astronaut training program. Even as apparently simple a matter as plan-
ning the individual mission responsibilities of the lunar astronauts had
to be carefully choreographed. In sending astronauts to the moon, a lot of
tasks had to be precisely scheduled so as to make optimal use of the avail-
2 How Math Explains the World