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2014 Fields Medals announced

mathunion.org

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Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#31

Post by netvarun »

Quanta Magazine, published by the Simons Fonundation, has an article on each of the four Fields Medallists and the Nevanlinna Prize winner, Subhash Khot.

Artur Avila - A Brazilian Wunderkind Who Calms Chaos http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140812-a-brazilian-...

Manjul Bhargava - The Musical, Magical Number Theorist http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140812-the-musical-...

Martin Hairer - In Noisy Equations, One Who Heard Music http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140808-in-mathemati...

Maryam Mirzakhani - A Tenacious Explorer of Abstract Surfaces http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140812-a-tenacious-...

Subhash Khot - A Grand Vision for the Impossible http://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20140812-a-grand-visi...

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#32

Post by [deleted] »

melling wrote: post #6
IvyMike wrote: post #2

Notably, Maryam Mirzakhani is the first woman to win a Fields medal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani

Well, as an undergrad, she went to one of the best universities in the world. http://www.newsweek.com/surprising-success-irans-universitie... We don't hear about it much, but Iran has one of the best universities in the world.

[deleted]

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#33

Post by dang »

rabarbers wrote: post #15
bwy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry WhitneyLand. In case you haven't noticed, the one thing Hacker News is most afraid of is becoming anything like Reddit.

I do not understand why should HN be afraid to give reasonable reason for down voting. Looking at picture I also thought that Maryam Mirzakhani is man. I understood my mistake only by reading down-voted comments. Someone is spoiling valuable comments and it happens too often. Sad.

> I do not understand why should HN be afraid to give reasonable reason for down voting

It's not about being afraid, it's about not lowering the signal/noise ratio any further.

You should post a comment when, and only when, you have something substantive to say. There are many more downvotes than there are substantive things to say, which is why subthreads about downvotes invariably degenerate.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#34

Post by javipas »

Strange to see this precisely today.

I can't help seeing this and remember once more Robin Williams (RIP) in 'Good Will Hunting', where I first knew about the Field Medal and the magic of Maths was a recurring theme in that fantastic movie.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#35

Post by nraynaud »

cycrutchfield wrote: post #27
nraynaud wrote: post #18

Haha, "But Khot’s Unique Games Conjecture has already amply proven its value, even should it ultimately be disproven. It has cast a bright light on previously dim areas of computational complexity and provided critical insight — and, yes, Khot has also used it to prove major results, ones that stand regardless of its truth." weak people conjecture and then get results "if my conjecture stands". This guy is a black be…

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Strange that you feel the need to comment on a topic that you appear to know absolutely nothing about.

Whereas a personal attack is a demonstration of knowledge and wisdom.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#36

Post by [deleted] »

bwy wrote: post #10
WhitneyLand wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why the down vote, not funny at all? Hey I would be in support of them all getting the same money as Nobel or Abel laureates :).

Sorry WhitneyLand. In case you haven't noticed, the one thing Hacker News is most afraid of is becoming anything like Reddit.

[deleted]

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#37

Post by mehrdada »

melling wrote: post #6
IvyMike wrote: post #2

Notably, Maryam Mirzakhani is the first woman to win a Fields medal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryam_Mirzakhani

Well, as an undergrad, she went to one of the best universities in the world. http://www.newsweek.com/surprising-success-irans-universitie... We don't hear about it much, but Iran has one of the best universities in the world.

It's important to note that successful Iranians generally become successful _despite_ the country they grow up in, not because of it. In my opinion, and having first-hand experience with that environment, the credit for this incredible achievement belongs to her and herself only.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#38

Post by Dewie »

boxyhendrix wrote: post #22
boxyhendrix wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for pointing that out. I hadn't actually noticed after glancing at the pictures that a woman was among the winners. EDIT - I'm not trying to be funny, her hairstyle makes her look like she has a receding hairline so I thought she was a man.

Wow! I seem to have touched a nerve.

Remarking that a woman looks like a man (or vice versa) is often seen as insulting, even if the intent is not to insult.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#39

Post by [deleted] »

ekm2 wrote: post #12

'Manjul Bhargava completed all of his high school math and computer courses by age 14.[..] Princeton hired him at the rank of tenured full professor within only two years of finishing graduate school, which is considered a record in the Ivy League.' Fascinating. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manjul_Bhargava

[deleted]

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#40

Post by mhartl »

I was in the same Harvard class as Manjul Bhargava, one of this year's Fields Medal winners. I remember having lunch with him as a freshman and being amazed that he was already taking Math 134 (topology). I slowly realized he'd effectively taken a full undergraduate math curriculum in high school.

I had a friend who was Manjul's TA for a probability class our senior year. I still remember him exclaiming, "There's no way that series telescoped!" [1] when Manjul solved one problem in a particularly clever way.

The strange thing is that it was hard to tell at first if Manjul was particularly smart. Two of our other mathematically accomplished classmates, Lenny Ng and Kiran Kedlaya (both of whom I knew much better than Manjul), were obviously brilliant, but with Manjul it took a lot longer to figure out he was a genius.

I think now the secret is out.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescoping_series

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