Live data from Hacker News

Imperial mathematician scoops $3M Breakthrough Prize

imperial.ac.uk

1–10 of 111 posts

Re: Imperial mathematician scoops $3M Breakthrough Prize

#5

> He won the Fields Medal in 2014 Damn. I'm sure he appreciates the $3M (elsewhere he joked that he could finally afford to buy a house in London) but the Fields Medal is a much bigger deal in the world of mathematics.

Martin Hairer also has a software company making audio editing tools (https://hairersoft.com/) - I love this Fields medal comment in the middle of an otherwise mundane support forum thread about MacOS compatibility! https://hairersoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2574&p=8222...

Re: Imperial mathematician scoops $3M Breakthrough Prize

#8

> He won the Fields Medal in 2014 Damn. I'm sure he appreciates the $3M (elsewhere he joked that he could finally afford to buy a house in London) but the Fields Medal is a much bigger deal in the world of mathematics.

Which actually made me wonder - where/how do London academics live? I find it hard to imagine them commuting for hours from the suburbs - it does not seem very consistent with an academic life - but I do not see them being able to afford to live near their universities either.

Re: Imperial mathematician scoops $3M Breakthrough Prize

#9

> He won the Fields Medal in 2014 Damn. I'm sure he appreciates the $3M (elsewhere he joked that he could finally afford to buy a house in London) but the Fields Medal is a much bigger deal in the world of mathematics.

Which actually made me wonder - where/how do London academics live? I find it hard to imagine them commuting for hours from the suburbs - it does not seem very consistent with an academic life - but I do not see them being able to afford to live near their universities either.

FYI: How Stanford University handles that now is that they have a new subdivision on campus, and chosen professors are given title to a nice house. When they move later, they are given the assessed profit of any rise in house value over the years.

This was necessary because house prices in Palo Alto are in the $2+ million range, which is not affordable to profs, and prevents them from the normal housing ladder investment seen in the rest of the USA.

A lot of the profs use bicycles to ride the mile or so to class.

Re: Imperial mathematician scoops $3M Breakthrough Prize

#10

> He won the Fields Medal in 2014 Damn. I'm sure he appreciates the $3M (elsewhere he joked that he could finally afford to buy a house in London) but the Fields Medal is a much bigger deal in the world of mathematics.

Which actually made me wonder - where/how do London academics live? I find it hard to imagine them commuting for hours from the suburbs - it does not seem very consistent with an academic life - but I do not see them being able to afford to live near their universities either.

At Imperial: They mostly commute (but not for hours), because it's basically impossible to find a decent flat in South Kensington. It works, because Imperial has matching childcare. Also, many mathematicians tend to work from home frequently.
Post reply on HN