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2014 Fields Medals announced

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Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#71

Post by conjectures »

IvyMike wrote: post #30
titter wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since there are still ~200 countries without a Fields Medal, this isn't mathematically remarkable in comparison to the parent point. So, I understand instead that you're identifying this as notable for the following reason: There are 100 times more women in the world than Canadians, yet women and Canadians have the same number of Fields Medals.

First of all, there's not enough data to be statistically significant in any of my ramblings, so it's all kind of hand-wavy and I apologize for that. But my general feeling is that there used to be a few "powerhouse" countries and institutions that dominated, but that has been changing for many years. There's a lot more diversity these days. So I think kiyoto's point speaks to the changes there. In 1950, it would hav…

"not enough data to be statistically significant"

^suspect this is incorrect.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#72

Post by judk »

cperciva wrote: post #60
curiousDog wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even more impressive is Drew houston chiming in. cperciva would've been a billionaire (not that he cares :))!

cperciva would've been a billionaire Doubtful. First, Forbes says that dhouston has a net worth of $1.2B; and even if I had been an extra cofounder, splitting the cofounder shares more ways would have brought it below $1B. Second, I really doubt I could have stuck it out at Dropbox for the necessary time. I like to do things in ways which are technically right rather than necessarily financially right; Dropbox is a p…

2nd point is key. From collectong comic books to running companies, there are many people who had the requisite starting potential to be a success, but attrition peels off almost all of them for so many small and often unrelated reasons.

Make the post of your own path, and play to your strengths.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#73

Post by judk »

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

Most of the undergraduate math majors finished high school math by age 14. Manjul was a cut above even them in mathematical talent and experience.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#74

Post by kaitai »

S4M wrote: post #62
burkaman wrote: post #41

Is it just me, or are the winners not listed anywhere on this site? It says "The Prize Committees for ICM 2014 have begun their work." And "last updated: 2014-07-30" at the bottom. Was the page reverted to an older version for some reason?

The winners were listed yesterday, then I noticed they removed the list, but now it's back.

They accidentally released the names early, then pulled them. I heard @JSEllenberg tweeted the results right away, but they were supposed to be released after the ceremony.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#75

Post by kaitai »

neves wrote: post #54
mehrdada wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't know of the details of the Math World, but probably this isn't true. Till now, a country as big as Brazil, one of the biggest economies of the world, never had won none of the most important scientific prizes. Argentina, our neighbor, has 3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_coun... The medal is not just Artur brilliance and hard work, but also due to the IMPA: http://www.impa.br/ A sixt…

I want to second the sentiment that national investment supports achievement like this. IMPA has been very important for Brazilian mathematics, bringing people from across the world to Brazil to do high-level research. This means that some Brazilians who don't have have the opportunity or desire to move to Germany or California or Korea can work with and learn from amazing mathematicians who come to them, in Brazil.

Since 1990, at least one Fields Medal winner has worked in France -- until this year. France has a culture of supporting mathematics and mathematicians. It has its quirks and difficulties, but national support for research has played an important role.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#76

Post by mhartl »

S4M wrote: post #63
mhartl wrote: post #40

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…

> 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. By any chance, can you remember that problem? I have no way to understand Manjul Bhargava's work that got him the Nobel prize, but I could probably understand how he solved that problem, which would enab…

Alas, I don't remember the details of the particular sum.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#77

Post by mathgeek777 »

mhartl wrote: post #40

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…

I'm a current Duke student and took multivariable calculus taught by none other than Lenny Ng a year ago. I had no idea who he really was until about halfway through, though we all knew he was brilliant. One of the nicest professors I've ever had, exceptional at explaining concepts too. He also draws pictures like a god, something that's obviously really beneficial in that sort of class. He used to say his drawings were a bit off while we would just sit there astonished. Such an amazing guy.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#78

Post by kaitai »

kaitai wrote: post #75
neves wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know of the details of the Math World, but probably this isn't true. Till now, a country as big as Brazil, one of the biggest economies of the world, never had won none of the most important scientific prizes. Argentina, our neighbor, has 3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_coun... The medal is not just Artur brilliance and hard work, but also due to the IMPA: http://www.impa.br/ A sixt…

I want to second the sentiment that national investment supports achievement like this. IMPA has been very important for Brazilian mathematics, bringing people from across the world to Brazil to do high-level research. This means that some Brazilians who don't have have the opportunity or desire to move to Germany or California or Korea can work with and learn from amazing mathematicians who come to them, in Brazil.…

I have to correct a misstatement :( Turns out Artur Avila is now a Brazilian-French dual citizen and spends 6 months a year as a research director of CNRS. So... France wins again!

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#79

Post by mhartl »

mathgeek777 wrote: post #77
mhartl wrote: post #40

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…

I'm a current Duke student and took multivariable calculus taught by none other than Lenny Ng a year ago. I had no idea who he really was until about halfway through, though we all knew he was brilliant. One of the nicest professors I've ever had, exceptional at explaining concepts too. He also draws pictures like a god, something that's obviously really beneficial in that sort of class. He used to say his drawings w…

Lenny was one of my lab partners in Physics 15c. It was especially cool since I'd read about him in Newsweek the year before. Really smart, super nice guy.

Re: 2014 Fields Medals announced

#80

Post by read »

dang wrote: post #33
rabarbers wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> it's about not lowering the signal/noise ratio any further.

idea: you can track an explanation why something was downvoted without showing it as a comment. It can be shown only if a user clicks on some type of "why this was downvoted" link.

This would not lower the signal/noise ratio on the main thread. People can continue having a discussion that degenerates to low signal/ratio about the downvoting into this other link. If anything positive comes out of it, and enough people upvote it out of the downvoted status, then you can start commenting on it again.

This would also be aligned with the policy of posting a comment when, and only when, you have something substantive to say.

Because unless the comment was restored back to a positive score, you wouldn't be able to post a comment on the main thread (as a reply to that comment; not the whole thread). The policy would be enforced, and you dang wouldn't have to be telling people to not comment about downvoting.

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