Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

brown.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 337 posts

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#41

Post by iflp »

carrolldunham wrote: post #23

A PhD is research training. Is he doing to do research now, or is this just, like everyone seems to be treating it - a big trophy? Does anyone ever stop to question their credentialist mindset? I heard a character in a video game say indignantly "Excuse me, I have a PhD", and I thought, well, that's not realistic dialog because a PhDs is something you have done, not something that you 'have'. But then people here are…

> Steiner is not prepared to rest on his laurels. He is currently reworking part of his dissertation for publication and plans to continue his theoretical physics work.

It definitely helps that he has a lifetime of research experience (in another field).

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#42

Post by silisili »

selectodude wrote: post #40
silisili wrote: post #9

This gives me hope. I'm not even half his age, but already worry about my brain going. When I was 17 I could do basic calculus in my head. Today I struggle to carry numbers in long addition problems. It already has me thinking about my career and future - it certainly is downhill from here. Then something like this happens and just makes me feel like a big baby. Hats off Mr Steiner.

I went back to school with the same fears. It comes back to you.

Genuinely, thanks for sharing. I always want to go back, but fear I'll embarrass myself. Or at least realize my age is catching up eith me.

Out of curiosity, what did you go back for, and how did it go?

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#43

Post by odyssey7 »

silisili wrote: post #9

This gives me hope. I'm not even half his age, but already worry about my brain going. When I was 17 I could do basic calculus in my head. Today I struggle to carry numbers in long addition problems. It already has me thinking about my career and future - it certainly is downhill from here. Then something like this happens and just makes me feel like a big baby. Hats off Mr Steiner.

Don’t assume this is age. It could be a health condition beginning to manifest. Inflammation, vitamin deficiency leading to something bad, etc. Brain fog is a common symptom of many possible issues that may just be taking root. I would see a doctor and make sure I fixed any such issue I could.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#44

Post by tombert »

melvinmt wrote: post #36
tombert wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You definitely aren’t too old By "old" I didn't mean actual biological age exactly. I guess the more appropriate word would be something more like "settled". As it stands, I have a mortgage and whatnot to take care of, it's not really realistic for me to quit my job and focus full-time on a PhD for the next 5-6 years. > but I would never take on a PhD student that wants to continue working elsewhere That seems to b…

Yes, part-time PhD's are pretty common in Europe. They also commonly take 3-4 years instead of 6...

Which I find weird; are European/British PhDs generally considered less valuable than American? I didn’t think they were but there’s a lot I don’t know about this.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#45

Post by School-Cotton »

soheil wrote: post #37
School-Cotton wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many PhD students have you known? The successful ones at least work extremely hard already; there is no such thing as working twice as hard as them.

Take the top 1% of successful phd students. Does your statement apply equally to them? What about the 0.01%?

If anything those denote even more time to their academic work than the average.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#46

Post by eyeundersand »

carrolldunham wrote: post #23

A PhD is research training. Is he doing to do research now, or is this just, like everyone seems to be treating it - a big trophy? Does anyone ever stop to question their credentialist mindset? I heard a character in a video game say indignantly "Excuse me, I have a PhD", and I thought, well, that's not realistic dialog because a PhDs is something you have done, not something that you 'have'. But then people here are…

I don't see what's wrong with saying "I have a PhD". It's equivalent to what (I think) you're saying: "I have a few qualifications (pertaining to research)".

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#47

Post by silisili »

odyssey7 wrote: post #43
silisili wrote: post #9

This gives me hope. I'm not even half his age, but already worry about my brain going. When I was 17 I could do basic calculus in my head. Today I struggle to carry numbers in long addition problems. It already has me thinking about my career and future - it certainly is downhill from here. Then something like this happens and just makes me feel like a big baby. Hats off Mr Steiner.

Don’t assume this is age. It could be a health condition beginning to manifest. Inflammation, vitamin deficiency leading to something bad, etc. Brain fog is a common symptom of many possible issues that may just be taking root. I would see a doctor and make sure I fixed any such issue I could.

Thanks. Would love to have such a solution, but generally, doctor visits are normal.

One giant difference I noticed is my speech. When I was younger I spoke very, very quickly, to the point it was off-putting to some folks. I've always thought people who speak quickly have a fast working brain, so to speak.

Today I speak much more slowly and with more deliberation. Not good or bad, just different. Unfortunately I also find myself searching for a word much more often.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#48

Post by fouc »

tombert wrote: post #3

This is really cool. I'm 30 right now, and only just recently finished my bachelors and have been looking to get a PhD, but it's really hard to find a program that will let you work full time while doing it. It doesn't help that a part of me does sort of feel "too old" to do this sometimes. The PhD system in the US is really tailored around the assumption that you haven't entered the corporate world yet. Anyway, it's…

To me, 18-30 or even 18-35 is practically "young adult" these days.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#49

Post by analog31 »

tombert wrote: post #44
melvinmt wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, part-time PhD's are pretty common in Europe. They also commonly take 3-4 years instead of 6...

Which I find weird; are European/British PhDs generally considered less valuable than American? I didn’t think they were but there’s a lot I don’t know about this.

They may start out already more specialized as undergrads, or the programs are just managed better.

Re: Physics Student Earns PhD at Age 89

#50

Post by grayclhn »

soheil wrote: post #29
kortilla wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. A phd has very little overlap with learning broad topics about a field (unlike masters and bachelors/associates). Unless your job is literally to do research on the subject of your dissertation, it will not help.

What about working harder than your peers? If you're 2x harder working than the avg phd student shouldn't you be able to dedicate half or a third of that time to work and still finish the phd in 5 years?

IME (US) the typical successful phd student works 60-80 hours a week, so… good luck working twice that hard for 5 years.
Post reply on HN