Gödel was born in an Austro-Hungarian province that is now part of the Czech Republic. His father was a textile manufacturer who had worked his way up from laborer to manager in the local factory. Kurt lived in a well-to-do household and had a happy childhood, though he was shy and introverted. He acquired the nickname of "Herr Warum" ("Mr. Why") because of his continual questions.

The town of Brunn (now Brno) where he grew up was spared the horrors of World War I, but when Czechoslovakia officially became a nation in 1918, the German-speaking minority there, of which Gödel's family was part, became isolated from the rest of the country. Ultimately, this forced Gödel to renounce his Czechoslovakian citizenship and become an Austrian. He attended the University of Vienna and studied science, philosophy, and mathematics.

In 1930 Gödel received a doctorate...