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Terry Tao's generals (2012)

web.math.princeton.edu

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Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#21

Post by OldGuyInTheClub »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #14

Thought this Oppenheimer anecdote may amuse the HN contingent. "Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in March 1927 at age 23, supervised by Max Born.[28][29] After the oral exam, James Franck, the professor administering, reportedly said, "I'm glad that's over. He was on the point of questioning me."[30] " Franck had won the Nobel two years earlier. Sources: [Refs] quoted directly from Wikipedia artic…

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

I don't ask questions, I just use mine for what it's worth!: Not much and decreasing by the day. (Also not in math)

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#22

Post by pfdietz »

mcphage wrote: post #13
quickthrower2 wrote: post #7

I am dim today. Is this Tao getting rejected for some interview for something?

He's one of the preeminent living mathematicians.

Fields Medal winner in 2006.

(And, as listed on his wikipedia page, 27 other awards, medals, and prizes.)

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#23

Post by klyrs »

fiforpg wrote: post #18

My first distracted thought upon reading this title on HN: cool, Terry Tao is finally getting his own army! Jokes aside, Tao also has a nice write-up in AMS Notices on this experience and how it influenced his career: https://www.ams.org/notices/202007/rnoti-p1007.pdf

I was hoping he was going to apply the combinatorial nullstellensatz to solve the Byzantine Generals Problem...

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#24

Post by fiforpg »

analog31 wrote: post #16
quickthrower2 wrote: post #7

I am dim today. Is this Tao getting rejected for some interview for something?

These go by different names at different schools, but a grad student has to pass an oral exam, roughly at the end of their coursework and beginning of their dissertation phase. Sometimes called "orals," "comprehensive exams," etc. By tradition, they can ask you anything. But in practice, they're not out to kill you. I went to a second tier university, and it was generally believed that the questions at a top school t…

> Sometimes called "orals," "comprehensive exams," etc.

— other names I have heard people use for these: prelims, quals, ...

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#25

Post by lmm »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #14

Thought this Oppenheimer anecdote may amuse the HN contingent. "Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in March 1927 at age 23, supervised by Max Born.[28][29] After the oral exam, James Franck, the professor administering, reportedly said, "I'm glad that's over. He was on the point of questioning me."[30] " Franck had won the Nobel two years earlier. Sources: [Refs] quoted directly from Wikipedia artic…

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

Philosophy used to include all of science, up until "Natural Philosophy" got big enough to separate out on its own.

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#26

Post by adgjlsfhk1 »

lr4444lr wrote: post #5

I did state though that all second derivatives of u would have L^p norms bounded by that of the Laplacian. Kleinermann asked me for an elementary explanation of this, but I couldn't think of one. I haven't the foggiest idea of what an "elementary explanation" of anything during a math graduate degree committee assessment would even sound like.

Elementary number theory means that you are doing number theory without complex analysis or lots of abstract algebra

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#27

Post by puzzledobserver »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #14

Thought this Oppenheimer anecdote may amuse the HN contingent. "Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in March 1927 at age 23, supervised by Max Born.[28][29] After the oral exam, James Franck, the professor administering, reportedly said, "I'm glad that's over. He was on the point of questioning me."[30] " Franck had won the Nobel two years earlier. Sources: [Refs] quoted directly from Wikipedia artic…

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

The term philosophy is used in the original Greek sense, "love of knowledge". As opposed to, Wikipedia tells me: theology, medicine and law. I guess it also has something to do with philosophy in the early sense of the word, before natural philosophy branched off and became what we today call the sciences.

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#28

Post by liamwire »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #14

Thought this Oppenheimer anecdote may amuse the HN contingent. "Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in March 1927 at age 23, supervised by Max Born.[28][29] After the oral exam, James Franck, the professor administering, reportedly said, "I'm glad that's over. He was on the point of questioning me."[30] " Franck had won the Nobel two years earlier. Sources: [Refs] quoted directly from Wikipedia artic…

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

Partially, it’s tradition at this point, but it’s also worth pointing out that a PhD isn’t the only doctorate, see e.g. DBA, EdD, JD, MD, etc.

Re: Terry Tao's generals (2012)

#29

Post by tantalor »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #19
OldGuyInTheClub wrote: post #14

Thought this Oppenheimer anecdote may amuse the HN contingent. "Oppenheimer obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree in March 1927 at age 23, supervised by Max Born.[28][29] After the oral exam, James Franck, the professor administering, reportedly said, "I'm glad that's over. He was on the point of questioning me."[30] " Franck had won the Nobel two years earlier. Sources: [Refs] quoted directly from Wikipedia artic…

I keep making this mistake. I almost asked "why philosophy, didn't he study physics?" That does make me wonder: why DOES the qualification/position/status name mention only philosophy?

The "philosophy" in PhD refers to philosophy/wisdom in general (philos=love, sophia=wisdom) not the specific academic discipline.
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