Timeline for Too old for advanced mathematics?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 19, 2010 at 23:06 | comment | added | The Mathemagician | Well,does the fact that Karl Weierstrass-one of the founders of rigorous analysis-got his doctorate with a treatise published when he was 39 after many years working as a teacher and studying on his own and continued to publish until his death in 1897-count as a good counterexample, fpqc? Keep in mind-this was in an age when people lived much shorter lives and in much poorer general health. In fact,he died immobile of pnuemonia and continued to work when he could until his death. And we haven't even mentioned his remarkable career as a doctoral mentor to such names as Georg Cantor. | |
| Dec 1, 2009 at 19:27 | comment | added | Qiaochu Yuan | Anyone who actually doubts the productivity of older mathematicians has only to look at Gelfand's output in his later years. | |
| Nov 30, 2009 at 9:17 | comment | added | Yemon Choi | @fpqc: I think Hardy also said something like "Young men should be allowed to be arrogant; but they shouldn't be imbecile". I offer this merely as reported speech - I'm not going to commit myself to agreeing or disagreeing with Hardy's line. | |
| Nov 30, 2009 at 3:24 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | I just turned 20 yesterday! Anyway, I assume you've read the book, so how do you refute his argument? I mean, you've gotta at least come up with something if you want me to agree with you (Honestly, I probably will). | |
| Nov 30, 2009 at 2:31 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @fpqc: When I was your age, teenagers were more respectful of their elders. @SC: On the contrary, Hardy wrote his famous book after he himself stopped doing mathematical research. Many contemporaries and historians have written about his state of mind during the writing of his book; I believe the phrase "clinically depressed" would now be used. I think it has meaning only as a personal statement, and a dark one at that. | |
| Nov 30, 2009 at 2:09 | comment | added | Harrison Brown | When you encounter Hardyesque opinions on older mathematicians, it's probably worth keeping this comic in mind: xkcd.com/447 | |
| Nov 29, 2009 at 21:54 | comment | added | S. Carnahan♦ | We can safely file that quote under "Hardy has been known to talk like a pompous ass". | |
| Nov 29, 2009 at 19:23 | comment | added | Harry Gindi | But of course, according to Hardy, "If a man of mature age loses interest in and abandons mathematics, the loss is not likely to be very serious either for mathematics or for himself." This, of course, is about professional mathematicians producing interesting research. | |
| Nov 29, 2009 at 9:45 | history | answered | Pete L. Clark | CC BY-SA 2.5 |