Shocking that 55/56 Fields Medals have been awarded to men.
Maryam Mirzakhani has been the only female recipient. [0]
[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/us/maryam-mirzakhani-dead...
The Fields Medal should return to its roots
11–20 of 146 posts
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#12I think this overlooks the fact that mathematics is very specialised, segmented. Enormous talent in one strain of maths does not mean that anybody, following a slightly different course, would recognise the talent.
So, being an arbiter always means disappointing someone.
I suggest several micro-Fields medals, each arbitrated by the cross-cut of the nebulously defined experts of this field.
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#13Ok so what awards ceremony selection process isn’t political? Any guess on who is in consideration of the 2018 prize? I imagine those under consideration are already at top tier institutions. Is no noteworthy mathematics being done at less prestigious institutions? (Loaded question I know) but it would be cool to see some undiscovered mathematician doing ground breaking stuff at a lesser known university.
(Professional mathematician here, indeed one at a less prestigious institution.)
I would argue that medalists' universities have been reasonably diverse. For example, in the US since 1990, medals have gone to mathematicians from Rutgers and three separate University of California campuses. These are prestigious universities to be sure, but it's not like all the medalists are from the same two or three places.
> it would be cool to see some undiscovered mathematician
I think "undiscovered mathematicians" are very rare, for the reason that mathematics is an inherently social activity. We are constantly reading each other's papers, visiting each others' universities to give talks, and meeting each other at conferences. If you do excellent work, then in general your peers will learn about it and spread the word.
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#14Shocking that 55/56 Fields Medals have been awarded to men. Maryam Mirzakhani has been the only female recipient. [0] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/us/maryam-mirzakhani-dead...
why is it shocking?
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#15Shocking that 55/56 Fields Medals have been awarded to men. Maryam Mirzakhani has been the only female recipient. [0] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/us/maryam-mirzakhani-dead...
[deleted]
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#16Shocking that 55/56 Fields Medals have been awarded to men. Maryam Mirzakhani has been the only female recipient. [0] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/us/maryam-mirzakhani-dead...
why is it shocking?
If you accept the idea that a penchant for math is randomly distributed among all people, then the odds of 55/56 men winning by chance are very, very, very low.
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#17Shocking that 55/56 Fields Medals have been awarded to men. Maryam Mirzakhani has been the only female recipient. [0] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/16/us/maryam-mirzakhani-dead...
why is it shocking?
I meant shocking as in causing dismay, not surprising.
Women are vastly underrepresented in math.
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#18Ok so what awards ceremony selection process isn’t political? Any guess on who is in consideration of the 2018 prize? I imagine those under consideration are already at top tier institutions. Is no noteworthy mathematics being done at less prestigious institutions? (Loaded question I know) but it would be cool to see some undiscovered mathematician doing ground breaking stuff at a lesser known university.
Ciprian Manolescu or Peter Scholze (perhaps he is too young for it for this year).
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#19I think the age limit for the Fields medal reinforces this idea that "mathematics is a young mans game." It's one of many reasons why I got discouraged into entering mathematics when I was young because of this and math competitions. When I was younger , I would visit websites such as AOP , and ask questions and then be treated in a condescending way by students who were my age or younger who would then boast about t…
> It took some time to realize that having parents who are academics/engineers helps significantly in guiding you in a career such as mathematics. This is true of every good job. I'm trying to get hired at big 4 tech right now. Every person interviewing me is a rich kid. All of my competition is rich kids. Touring these big tech companies was discouraging. They're all very diverse. Rich white kids. Rich Asian kids. R…
> Every person interviewing me is a rich kid. All of my competition is rich kids. Touring these big tech companies was discouraging. They're all very diverse. Rich white kids. Rich Asian kids. Rich female kids. Rich European kids. Rich Indian kids.
Oh come on -- how could you possibly know this.
Re: The Fields Medal should return to its roots
#20I think the age limit for the Fields medal reinforces this idea that "mathematics is a young mans game." It's one of many reasons why I got discouraged into entering mathematics when I was young because of this and math competitions. When I was younger , I would visit websites such as AOP , and ask questions and then be treated in a condescending way by students who were my age or younger who would then boast about t…
> It took some time to realize that having parents who are academics/engineers helps significantly in guiding you in a career such as mathematics. This is true of every good job. I'm trying to get hired at big 4 tech right now. Every person interviewing me is a rich kid. All of my competition is rich kids. Touring these big tech companies was discouraging. They're all very diverse. Rich white kids. Rich Asian kids. R…
As a self taught, working class rural European white kid with a fairly successful career at one of the big four, I can tell you that this is simply not generally true. Sure, a lot of my peers come from financially well off families who sent them to prestigious universities, but many others had to make their own way. On top of that, I consider many of the "rich" kids pretty open minded, they're sure accepting of me and let me tell you I do not fit the standard mold.
Interviewing is a game in its own, but if you show that you're a problem solver who can work in team, and that you have done your homework, and that you can display some sort of passion for the job you're hiring for, you have a high chance of passing the interview.