One thing I learned: he did his work while at Warwick. Warwick is kind of under-estimated among UK universities. It's reasonably well-run (which makes it almost unique), regularly hires smart people, and doesn't have the Brideshead Revisited hangover of Oxbridge.
Damn. I'm sure he appreciates the $3M (elsewhere he joked that he could finally afford to buy a house in London) but the Fields Medal is a much bigger deal in the world of mathematics.
Which actually made me wonder - where/how do London academics live? I find it hard to imagine them commuting for hours from the suburbs - it does not seem very consistent with an academic life - but I do not see them being able to afford to live near their universities either.
I thought perhaps three of the Millennium problems had been solved, and the apocalypse were here.
BTW, for those interested in P=NP and not so much in the direct mathematical research, one interesting way to approach is via hash functions. If we had P=NP, then hash functions would be more easily invertible (eh, left or right invertible). I think in polynomial time. Sorry for the "I think", this isn't my field and I try to find ways to reinterpret it.
P,NP, and the invertability of most hash functions are not related, as far as is known. Most one-way functions of use are not known to be NP hard or NP complete, so having P=NP or P != NP would not affect currently widely used hash functions.
Some don't seem to care, which makes sense to me. It's not like people go into research math for the money. Andrew Wiles gave up their prize for the Fermat's last theorem.
Also, what does a tenured professor of mathematics do with such a sum other than spend it on himself? It's not like he's going to build out a lab and hire a bunch of research staff.
I've never heard of scooping a rival - otherwise this is the same usage. A publisher 'gets the scoop' (a great story, a win) or scoops the story just as a mathematician scoops a prize.
"The physics prize has mostly consisted of string theorists giving it to their friends in the field."
Firsty, the Breakthrough Prize is given in Life Sciences, Mathematics and Fundamental Physics. This post is about the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.
As for Fundamental Physics, apart from 2019 (special) for supergravity, it doesn't seem to go to string theorists:
2021 Special Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Steven Weinberg, “continuous leadership in fundamental physics, with broad impact across particle physics, gravity and cosmology, and for communicating science to a wider audience.” [0]
2021 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics -- Eric Adelberger, Jens H. Gundlach and Blayne Heckel, University of Washington. Citation: For precision fundamental measurements that test our understanding of gravity, probe the nature of dark energy, and establish limits on couplings to dark matter. [1]
2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was awarded to all 347 members of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration representing 60 institutions in 20 countries. [2]
2019 Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Charles Kane and Eugene Mele – University of Pennsylvania. Citation: For new ideas about topology and symmetry in physics, leading to the prediction of a new class of materials that conduct electricity only on their surface. [3]
2019 Special Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Jocelyn Bell Burnell – University of Dundee and University of Oxford. Citation: For fundamental contributions to the discovery of pulsars, and a lifetime of inspiring leadership in the scientific community. [3]
2018 Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- WMAP experimental team. Citation: for detailed maps of the early universe that greatly improved our knowledge of the evolution of the cosmos and the fluctuations that seeded the formation of galaxies. [4]
There are some string theorists further in the past, but they still don't warrant the use of the word 'mostly'. [5]
[+] [-] _Microft|5 years ago|reply
https://www.quantamagazine.org/hearing-music-in-noise-martin...
[+] [-] dash2|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] melling|5 years ago|reply
https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.5113
Wish there was something between a Quanta article and the paper that described his thinking.
[+] [-] mikorym|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ForHackernews|5 years ago|reply
Damn. I'm sure he appreciates the $3M (elsewhere he joked that he could finally afford to buy a house in London) but the Fields Medal is a much bigger deal in the world of mathematics.
[+] [-] wmwmwm|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agent008t|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikorym|5 years ago|reply
I thought perhaps three of the Millennium problems had been solved, and the apocalypse were here.
BTW, for those interested in P=NP and not so much in the direct mathematical research, one interesting way to approach is via hash functions. If we had P=NP, then hash functions would be more easily invertible (eh, left or right invertible). I think in polynomial time. Sorry for the "I think", this isn't my field and I try to find ways to reinterpret it.
[+] [-] ChrisLomont|5 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-way_function
https://www.quora.com/Is-cryptographic-hash-inversion-believ...
[+] [-] markhollis|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] foota|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] psychometry|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xiaodai|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vertbhrtn|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] remind_me_again|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] ambar123|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] tantalor|5 years ago|reply
A scoop is publishing something before a rival can. You scoop the rival, not the story/prize.
[+] [-] chrisseaton|5 years ago|reply
It does in British English, and this is a British university writing in their native language.
[+] [-] dairylee|5 years ago|reply
"If you scoop a prize or award, you win it."
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scoop
[+] [-] OJFord|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|5 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] xiaodai|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Google234|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] doublesCs|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] protomolecule|5 years ago|reply
[By whom?]
"The physics prize has mostly consisted of string theorists giving it to their friends in the field."
Firsty, the Breakthrough Prize is given in Life Sciences, Mathematics and Fundamental Physics. This post is about the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.
As for Fundamental Physics, apart from 2019 (special) for supergravity, it doesn't seem to go to string theorists:
2021 Special Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Steven Weinberg, “continuous leadership in fundamental physics, with broad impact across particle physics, gravity and cosmology, and for communicating science to a wider audience.” [0]
2021 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics -- Eric Adelberger, Jens H. Gundlach and Blayne Heckel, University of Washington. Citation: For precision fundamental measurements that test our understanding of gravity, probe the nature of dark energy, and establish limits on couplings to dark matter. [1]
2020 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was awarded to all 347 members of the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration representing 60 institutions in 20 countries. [2]
2019 Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Charles Kane and Eugene Mele – University of Pennsylvania. Citation: For new ideas about topology and symmetry in physics, leading to the prediction of a new class of materials that conduct electricity only on their surface. [3]
2019 Special Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- Jocelyn Bell Burnell – University of Dundee and University of Oxford. Citation: For fundamental contributions to the discovery of pulsars, and a lifetime of inspiring leadership in the scientific community. [3]
2018 Breakthrough Prize In Fundamental Physics -- WMAP experimental team. Citation: for detailed maps of the early universe that greatly improved our knowledge of the evolution of the cosmos and the fluctuations that seeded the formation of galaxies. [4]
There are some string theorists further in the past, but they still don't warrant the use of the word 'mostly'. [5]
[0] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/61
[1] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/60
[2] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/54
[3] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/47
[4] https://breakthroughprize.org/News/41
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Prize_in_Fundamen...
[+] [-] chrisseaton|5 years ago|reply
Wow this is an astronomically absurd Hacker News put-down.
[+] [-] namenotrequired|5 years ago|reply
> The Breakthrough Prizes are the largest prizes in science
Do they mean the prize comes with more money?
[+] [-] scott31|5 years ago|reply