Timeline for Modern results that are widely known, yet which at the time were ignored, not accepted or criticized
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Feb 10, 2022 at 13:06 | comment | added | Timothy Chow | @coudy I basically agree with what you say, but the question has the word "known" in the title, which to a mathematician means "rigorously proved." So I don't think this answers the question being asked. It answers a slightly different question, which is what conjectures were initially greeted with skepticism but which were later rigorously proved? | |
| Feb 7, 2022 at 18:48 | comment | added | Hollis Williams | The word ''quantum'' in a mathematical concept does not imply much to do with physics. | |
| Feb 7, 2022 at 14:28 | comment | added | Kostya_I | @coudy, no, I did not claim what you ascribe me. In my opinion, the notions of quantum computing are already mainstream mathematics. Sorry, I did not mean to quarrel; I simple never heard before, e.g., that there were any serious mathematicians who are/were initially skeptical of all things quantum, and was genuinely curious about where this might come from. | |
| Feb 7, 2022 at 14:27 | comment | added | coudy | @McKay I wish I can share your optimism. Searching for "skepticism quantum" on mathoverflow leads for example to mathoverflow.net/questions/302492/… which should give explicit examples of mathematicians skeptical about physical (and computer science) research. | |
| Feb 7, 2022 at 12:44 | comment | added | Kostya_I | @coudy, I found nothing about mathematicians criticizing Verlinde in the linked article, it only quotes other physicists doing so (and not Verlinde formula anyway). Googling "skepticism quantum" produced, for me, mostly links on quantum computing skepticism, which is not a debate about a mathematical concept and hardly a mainstream point of view anyway. | |
| Feb 7, 2022 at 9:21 | history | edited | coudy | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added a quote
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| Feb 7, 2022 at 8:58 | comment | added | Ben McKay | In my experience, mathematicians are not skeptical of physical research, and don't doubt that these discoveries can be made rigorous. We live in awe of these discoveries. But we also recognize that useful ideas arise from finding rigorous mathematical models of physical discoveries: Hilbert spaces, Lie groups, topological spaces with a precise notion of continuity, Sobolev spaces in which the precise estimates needed to ensure physically realistic behaviour of pde solutions can sometimes be made explicit. It is because we love physics so much that we try to see it so clearly. | |
| Feb 7, 2022 at 8:15 | comment | added | Kostya_I | could you add sources to the claim that any of the things you mentioned were "first met with great skepticism by mathematicians"? | |
| S Feb 6, 2022 at 20:19 | history | answered | coudy | CC BY-SA 4.0 | |
| S Feb 6, 2022 at 20:19 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by coudy |