Did Kahler say "a long list of miracles occur"? - MathOverflow most recent 30 from http://mathoverflow.net 2013-05-19T13:10:27Z http://mathoverflow.net/feeds/question/71354 http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/rdf http://mathoverflow.net/questions/71354/did-kahler-say-a-long-list-of-miracles-occur Did Kahler say "a long list of miracles occur"? Jean Delinez 2011-07-26T20:40:51Z 2011-07-27T12:34:06Z <p>I've been reading Moroianu's Kahler geometry notes and found a unattributed quote that says that if the Kahler properties hold, then "a long list of miracles occur"</p> <p>I am guessing that this quote belongs to Kahler himself, but I can't back this up. Does anyone know?</p> http://mathoverflow.net/questions/71354/did-kahler-say-a-long-list-of-miracles-occur/71361#71361 Answer by Igor Rivin for Did Kahler say "a long list of miracles occur"? Igor Rivin 2011-07-26T21:36:22Z 2011-07-26T23:22:50Z <p>I believe the answer is yes, see:</p> <p><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=u6WFVmoHxFkC&amp;pg=PA740&amp;dq=Kahler+%2B+%22a+long+list+of+miracles%22" rel="nofollow">http://books.google.com/books?id=u6WFVmoHxFkC&amp;pg=PA740&amp;dq=Kahler+%2B+%22a+long+list+of+miracles%22</a></p> http://mathoverflow.net/questions/71354/did-kahler-say-a-long-list-of-miracles-occur/71368#71368 Answer by csar for Did Kahler say "a long list of miracles occur"? csar 2011-07-27T00:07:21Z 2011-07-27T00:07:21Z <p>Following quid's comment (I don't have the reputation to comment), assuming <i>Über eine bemerkenswerte Hermitesche Metrik</i> is the place to look, it doesn't appear to be in there. The "long list of miracles" does seem to be apparent in a quick skim of the paper, though (and a naive skim at that--I just read the words, not the content).</p> http://mathoverflow.net/questions/71354/did-kahler-say-a-long-list-of-miracles-occur/71396#71396 Answer by quid for Did Kahler say "a long list of miracles occur"? quid 2011-07-27T12:34:06Z 2011-07-27T12:34:06Z <p>I will make a CW answer to collect together some information. </p> <p>Igor Rivin found a published text containing the relevant phrase. It is in "The unabated vitality of Kählerian geometry," by Jean-Pierre Bourguignon which is included in the collected works of Kähler (Kähler, Mathematische Werke/Mathematical Works, edited by Berndt and Riemenschneider, 2003).</p> <p>The relevant pasage is (from the text of Bourguignon where 'he' refers to Kähler): </p> <blockquote> <p>Quoting his terms, the case $d \omega = 0$ presents itself as "a remarkable exception". This is the condition he supposes throughout the paper whose purpose it is to describe a long list of miracles occuring then. </p> </blockquote> <p>This suggest to me that while Bourguignon is first quoting Kähler (the "a remarkable exception") he then stops quoting (and a new sentence started) and describes in his [Bourguignon's] own words the list of result/properties obtained by Kähler as miracolous.</p> <p>Side note: in this text there are some other verbatim quotes and they are under quotation marks; so except if Bourguignon inadvertently omitted them, he is not quoting. </p> <p>Furthermore, the paper of Kähler in question "Über eine bemerkenswerte Hermitesche Metrik" does not seem to contain such a phrase (cf. csar). I also searched the above mentioned book for appropriate terms (miracles, the German analog Wunder, and also <code>Mir*</code> in case he should have used Mirakel, which exists but is a bit rare); this did not turn up anything, besides what is mentioned above. </p> <p>Therefore it seems likely to me that this 'miracles' are due to Bourguignon and not Kähler; and, Moroianu is sort-of quoting Bourguignon. The time-line might seem a bit short, the notes being from 2003 as well as the book, however in view of the fact that Moroianu is a former student of Bourguignon this seems much less surprising, and perhaps even reinforces the idea that Moroianu is quoting Bourguignon.</p> <p>Final note: in case somebody wants to make really sure, Moroianu is a (it seems now inactive) MO user, so he might, if made aware of the need, give an authentic account. </p>