Timeline for Contacting an eminent mathematician
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
21 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 17, 2017 at 15:22 | review | Close votes | |||
| Dec 17, 2017 at 17:13 | |||||
| Oct 22, 2017 at 0:02 | review | Close votes | |||
| Oct 22, 2017 at 11:06 | |||||
| Feb 20, 2013 at 2:42 | answer | added | Dylan Wilson | timeline score: 0 | |
| Feb 20, 2013 at 1:28 | comment | added | David Corwin | This reminds me of a few days ago when I heard Prof. Shouwu Zhang, a faculty member at Princeton, make some comments and questions about the foundations of $p$-adic modular forms. Prof. Nick Katz (who wrote a foundational paper in $p$-adic modular forms in 1972) happened to be sitting at the same table, and just shook his head and said he hadn't thought about it in 40 years. | |
| Feb 20, 2013 at 0:49 | answer | added | Lurgul | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 8:51 | vote | accept | dward1996 | ||
| Jun 15, 2012 at 3:56 | comment | added | Patricia Hersh | What you are asking sounds like it could take some real concentration for the person to remember what he/she did 25 years ago, so one thing I'd keep in mind is that the person might be perfectly willing to do this one day but not on another day, depending on when they are busy with other things. So I'd try to make it clear that you'd be appreciative of any help from them whenever is convenient for them, that there's no rush. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 19:26 | comment | added | Alexander Chervov | Once I got reply more than month later. Once years later. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 19:26 | comment | added | Deane Yang | I support all of the answers above. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 19:05 | answer | added | Igor Pak | timeline score: 18 | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 18:33 | comment | added | Angelo | Go ahead and write to them. The worse that can happen is that they don't reply. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 18:24 | comment | added | Neeraj | Most of the big Mathematicians are very kind and polite in Nature. Do not waste time, thinking about consequences. Go ahead, It is most likely you will get, what you want. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 18:10 | comment | added | Anthony Quas | In the words of Nike, "Just Do It!". Then apply the usual rules of human interactions. I've seen people send repeated follow-up questions without any obvious buy-in from the eminent mathematician (not cool in my opinion), but you don't sound as though you're unresponsive to social signals. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 16:11 | comment | added | Andreas Blass | I think most mathematicians would be pleased to learn that, despite the "moderate focus" that you mention, someone is still seriously interested in their 25-year-old work. Remember, though, that it's possible to forget quite a lot in 25 years, even about one's own work so don't assume that the replies will be as good as what you get when asking people about their recent work. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 15:57 | comment | added | J.J. Green | You should write to other mathematicians. You may find that they don't consider themselves to be as eminent and you think they are; they may be modest, friendly and receptive. You may find that they are self-obsessed arrogant twits who would not deign to respond to a lowly PhD student. The quality of their mathematics seems to have no effect on their personal approachability. Most importantly, you should not expect a reply: they may be too busy, they may be on holiday or they may fall into the last class. If they don't then don't be discouraged, there are other fish in the sea. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 15:36 | comment | added | Gerhard Paseman | If you want to game the system, find a student, recent coauthor, secretary or faculty member and ask them for advice on the approach. I could knock on Don Knuth's door (from the outside, cf. xkcd) but I would feel more confident after consulting with his secretary. Gerhard "How Did You Get Inside?" Paseman, 2012.06.14 | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 15:29 | comment | added | Will Jagy | I've just realized that it's me you are thinking of contacting. My addresses are on the CML, and I do reply to email. Happy to help. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 15:16 | history | edited | Willie Wong |
whatever this question is about is certainly not general mathematics. ho is also stretching it a bit.
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| Jun 14, 2012 at 14:57 | comment | added | André Henriques | You can contact anybody, of course. Be polite, and make sure to indicate, by the careful formulation of your question, that you have thought a lot about what you're asking. Also keep in mind, depending on who you contact, that you can expect to get at most one or two email responses, and that any further emails might end up unanswered. So use them well. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 14:57 | comment | added | alvarezpaiva | Most people are happy to talk about their work. Write a nice, polite mail and don't give this too much thought. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 14:52 | history | asked | dward1996 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |