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Jim Simons has died

simonsfoundation.org

31–40 of 338 posts

Re: Jim Simons has died

#31
post #10

Sadly I've never been able to snag an interview with RenTech (and I've applied like a dozen times), but they're the ones that actually made me start taking finance a lot more seriously. Maybe if I ever finish my PhD they'll hire me. I had previously thought of HFT and Quant as a bunch of "finance bros", and kind of dismissed it as "not real CS" [1]. Reading about RenTech and Jim Simons made realize that there's actua…

When have high frequency traders and quants ever been finance bros? Wut?

Re: Jim Simons has died

#32

Last month an amazing biographical podcast came out describing his personal journey to starting rentech, and the factors that make the business so competitive. Certainly worth a listen https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/renaissance-technologies

This is by far my favorite podcast series, I’d recommend the ones on Costco, Amazon, and Nvidia as well.

Re: Jim Simons has died

#33

Will be interesting to see how this affects math research. He has pumped unthinkable amounts of money into the field. The only first-class flights I've taken in my life were to get to Simons-funded conferences at super fancy hotels. (I found these conferences a bit ridiculous, but the luxury treatment did ensure that they could get together a lot of the biggest names in the field in one place.) Besides the conference…

That money for the arXiv was a decade late. arXiv barely survived the 2000s.

Ah, good looking out. It was on my list for this year https://info.arxiv.org/about/donate.html but if it's useless I'll skip it. More for GiveWell it is.

Re: Jim Simons has died

#34

Will be interesting to see how this affects math research. He has pumped unthinkable amounts of money into the field. The only first-class flights I've taken in my life were to get to Simons-funded conferences at super fancy hotels. (I found these conferences a bit ridiculous, but the luxury treatment did ensure that they could get together a lot of the biggest names in the field in one place.) Besides the conference…

That money for the arXiv was a decade late. arXiv barely survived the 2000s.

> That money for the arXiv was a decade late. arXiv barely survived the 2000s.

I find this kind of comment quite distasteful on someones death. Was he actively trying to destroy arXiv?

Re: Jim Simons has died

#37

Will be interesting to see how this affects math research. He has pumped unthinkable amounts of money into the field. The only first-class flights I've taken in my life were to get to Simons-funded conferences at super fancy hotels. (I found these conferences a bit ridiculous, but the luxury treatment did ensure that they could get together a lot of the biggest names in the field in one place.) Besides the conference…

Quanta Magazine is also funded by his foundation.

Re: Jim Simons has died

#38
post #5

"My algorithm has always been: You put smart people together, you give them a lot of freedom, create an atmosphere where everyone talks to everyone else. They're not hiding in the corner with their own little thing. They talk to everybody else. And you provide the best infrastructure. The best computers and so on that people can work with and make everyone partners"

if only more companies fostered the idea of employee wellbeing

Re: Jim Simons has died

#40

Will be interesting to see how this affects math research. He has pumped unthinkable amounts of money into the field. The only first-class flights I've taken in my life were to get to Simons-funded conferences at super fancy hotels. (I found these conferences a bit ridiculous, but the luxury treatment did ensure that they could get together a lot of the biggest names in the field in one place.) Besides the conference…

Quanta Magazine is also funded by his foundation.

Good point! Far and away the best popularization of recent results, at least in the eyes of a mathematician.
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