Yale Class of '52
Artists & Authors

Pierre L. Ullman
Yale 1952
M.A. Columbia 1956
Ph.D. Princeton 1962

Pierre is a retired professor of Spanish and Portuguese studies at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.

Logos, A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture: A Hypothesis Regarding the Religious and Mathematical Bases of Western Civilization

This article posits a view of Western Civilization limiting its initial stages to Christendom and placing its beginnings in mediaeval Europe, but it rejects Spengler's assumption of racial causation. On the other hand, it accepts the Spenglerian premise that the main distinguishing traits of a civilization are its religious attitudes and its mathematics. Certain works of Hispanic culture evince the rejection by Moslems of Trinitarian doctrine, as well as the difficulty of Christianizing conquered peoples, in both cases on mathematical grounds. Similar objections to the work of Christian mathematicians who gradually developed the new Western mathematics, such as non-Euclidean geometry and modern algebra (by means of which the Athanasian Creed could possibly make mathematical sense) leads us to the hypothesis that Western Civilization took shape through a partly subconscious dialectic confrontation of mathematics with Trinitarian doctrine, a process inoperative in the Moslem world.

Other publications on exhibit include:

Mariano de Larra and Spanish Political Rhetoric (1972)
A Contemporary Method of Analyzing Spanish Literature (1988)

Laszlo Gaspar Versenyi
Yale 1952
Ph.D. Yale 1955

Laszlo was born in Hungary and studied there and Germany before coming to Yale. After teaching at Yale from 1955-1958, he moved to Williams College where he rose to be Mark Hopkins Professor of Philosophy. He was Chairman of the Philosophy Department at the time of his death in 1988. Laszlo wrote a diary of his experiences and thoughts returning to Hungary after the Iron Curtain fell. Although not published, it is retained by his wife, Dinny, who is a librarian at Williams College.

Some examples of his scholarship on display include:

Socratic Humanism (1963)
Heidegger, Being and Truth (1965)
Man's Measure (1973)
Holiness and Justice (1982)

James R. Wolf
Yale 1952

In 1971 Jim through-hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Enjoying the experience, he set out to explore the possibilities of a similar trail route in the Rocky Mountains. In 1973 he started hiking in northern Montana, which resulted in the first guidebook published by Mountain Press of Missoula in 1975. With additional fieldwork in the following summers he became confident that a border-to-border trail was feasible. After Congressional hearings, at which Jim testified, the National Trails System Act was amended to authorize the Continental Divide Trail. It took over two decades to create an actual route on the ground. His guidebooks have two purposes - to provide information for backpackers seeking to make a long hike, and to identify a scenic location that would receive official recognition and acceptance.

The series now provides complete coverage from Canada to Mexico, about 2,750 miles and nearly 400,000 feet of climb along the way. His interest in the geography of the Continental Divide also led to a study of the history of early explorations including the Lewis and Clark route near the Lost Trail Pass, and those of General Sheridan and Captain Raynolds.

Guide to the Continental Divide: A seven volume series published by Continental Divide Trail Society.
Volume 3 - Wyoming (1980)
Volume 5 - Southern Colorado (1997)