Richard Rado was born in Berlin; he was the second son of Leopold
Rado, from
Budapest. At one stage of his education he had to decide whether to become
a concert
pianist or a mathematician. He chose the latter in the belief that he could
continue
with music as a hobby, but that he could never treat mathematics in that
way. He
studied at the University of Berlin, but also spent some time in Göttingen.
He took
a DPh at Berlin with his thesis ‘Studien zur Kombinatorik’
[3] under Issai Schur in
1933. During this period he was also influenced by Erhard Schmidt.
On 16 March 1933, he married Luise Zadek, the elder daughter of Hermann
Zadek, whom he had earlier come to know when he needed a partner to play
piano
duets. It was indeed a remarkable partnership.
As Hitler came to power in 1933, the Rados, being Jewish, made their
way to
England, Richard having obtained a scholarship of £300 p.a. from
Sir Robert Mond
through the recommendation of Professor Lindemann (later Lord Cherwell),
who
had interviewed him in Berlin, to enable him to study at Cambridge.