8/25 http://www.ucla.edu/about/faculty/tao.html
\_ Sigh. Tao >>>>>>>>>> me.
\_ "Such is Tao's reputation that mathematicians now compete to
interest him in their problems, and he is becoming a kind of Mr.
Fix-it for frustrated researchers. 'If you're stuck on a
problem, then one way out is to interest Terence Tao'"
\_ This is why I got out of math. No amount of hard work or
slightly clever tricks or listening to the advice of smart
old guys can come close to compensating for not being a
genius in math. Why should I spend three years of my life
working hard on a problem that some genius can solve in a
couple hours? Other sciences are not like that.
\- yeah, i know that feeling. years ago a friend of mine
asked me about an "extra credit" problem for his 50a
class. I couldnt believe I couldnt figure it out ...
and started working on it with some other friends for
a few days. We then started talking to Robin Hartshorne
about it ... it was amazing the stuff he came up with in
an hour. BTW, it turned out it was an open problem not
an "extra credit" problem.
an "extra credit" problem. It is interesting how many
of these people are just not normal ... Solovay, for
example. Another friend of mine reported a homeless man
in the elevator to the math dept ... their reaction was
"oh, that is Prof x".
\_ Was he bald and reading minds?
\_ Is there (and I really am just curious) something to be said
about someone this young winning a Fields medal? If this is
truly like the Nobel prize of math, shouldn't/aren't awards
like this usually given to people who are older (i.e. more
well established in the field, more published, etc.)? I'm
just wondering if this is a subtle publicity stunt of
sorts. But I do realize this kid is a math genius, too.
\_ You have to be under 40 to win the Fields Medal.
\_ OH, I didn't know that actually. Thanks. -op
\_ OH, I didn't know that actually. Thanks. -pp
\- note: that is "why" AWILES didnt get a FM for
the FLT proof, but got a consolation prize
of some lawn furniture.
\- No, it's not a "stunt". I'm actually kinda surprised Tao is
getting all this special attention. I think th point of the
\- It's not a "stunt". I'm actually kinda surprised Tao is
getting all this special attention. I think the point of the
"under 40" rule is so that the prize doesnt become a "liefetime
achievement award". Sort of the opposite of a Life Oscar ...
who/how old was the youngest Life Oscar Winner?
\_ But what if you do something great after 40? Wiles got screwed
Don't the rules imply that if you don't do anything great b4
40, you won't. Wasn't it RIBET's result that turned Wiles
onto Fermat? He must have forgotten to check how old he was.
\- Wiles hardly got screwed ... and we only think in those
terms because he coincidentally missed by only a couple
of years [would you have said "he go screwed" if he did
the work when he was 50?]. While WILES isnt exactly a
\_ Yes. There should be a Nobel or equiv for Math.
household name, you have heard of him ... how many
Fields Medalists have you heard of? Did HAWKING get
screwed because he hasnt won a Physics nobel? It's not
like WILES would have been able to get a better academic
position if he won a FM. In some cases the person is
honored by the prize, in other cases the prize is
honored by them ... do yu think VS Naipual readership
changed after he won the lit Nobel?
\_ I think most people in the physics department believe
Erwin Hahn got screwed for not getting it for spin echo.
\- i think there are probably more valid cases of
screwage when person A B C D are involved in
idea X, but only A B C win an award rather than
nobdy getting an award for some idea. I guess the
famous case of this is RFRANKLIN in the DNA
episode [nobel can only be split up to 3ways],
\_ also can't be given to dead people.
which she was.
and I dunno how valid that case is, but I suppose
CHIEN-SHIUNG WU [UCB Physics PhD ... in 1940!] has
a pretty good case in the YANG-LEE PARITY case.
As for UCB Physics, do people think ZUMINO has
been screwed?
\- BTW, if you are interested in a somewhat interesting take
on "math culture", see: http://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~wtg10/2cultures.pdf
It's by Timothy GOWERS, who is Yet Another Fields Medalist
[and was a student of BELA BOLLOBAS, whom some of you may know,
if you have studied GRAPH THEORY]. GOWERS divides mathematicians
into "problem solvers" and theory builders ... I think generally
people outside the math community -- but who have studied some
math -- dont hear hear much about people working on inscrutable,
hard problems. [ObTrivia: GOWERS won the Fields medal the same
year as CURT MCMULLEN, who used to be at Berkeley but was stolen
by Harvard and is kind of a jerk, and BORCHARDS, who is at
Berkeley still and works on MOONSHINE, and had brain analyzed
by ALI G's cousin, who is a famous research psychologist]. |
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