It's nice to see an older mathematician earn some recognition. The Fields Medal (the most prestigious prize in mathematics) is only given to people younger than 40, a cutoff which always seemed rather silly to me.
The cutoff is not so silly. Take the Nobel Prize in Physics, for instance. The award usually makes some already-famous professor more famous. It has no further impact on their career. I believe the cutoff is to make it more likely that the Fields Medal will have an tangible impact on the career of the receiver.
The genesis of the rule that it be awarded only to mathematicians no older than forty is evidently the statement that “… while it was in recognition of work already done, it was at the same time intended to be an encouragement for further achievement on the part of the recipients and a stimulus to renewed effort on the part of others”.
It's pretty interesting to see the record of the MacArthur awardees. They've a younger group than the Nobel laureates, but they've gone on to kick butt in myriad ways...
[+] [-] ctkrohn|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rguzman|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sateesh|16 years ago|reply
The genesis of the rule that it be awarded only to mathematicians no older than forty is evidently the statement that “… while it was in recognition of work already done, it was at the same time intended to be an encouragement for further achievement on the part of the recipients and a stimulus to renewed effort on the part of others”.
[+] [-] DaniFong|16 years ago|reply