from Hacker News

Mathematician who made sense of the universe's randomness wins Abel Prize

by wilshiredetroit on 3/30/24, 10:57 PM with 78 comments

  • by macintux on 3/31/24, 12:34 PM

  • by webwanderings on 3/31/24, 12:58 PM

    This is such a great quote for everyone! No matter the age. No matter what one wants to do.

    > “I’m not able to learn mathematics easily,” Talagrand tells ... “I have to work. It takes a very long time and I have a terrible memory. I forget things. So I try to work, despite handicaps, and the way I worked was trying to understand really well the simple things. Really, really well, in complete detail. And that turned out to be a successful approach.”

    Just imagine. You may be super smart who gets things easily and right away. Or, you may be average. Using this philosophy in life, one can excel further.

  • by uptownfunk on 3/31/24, 6:48 AM

    The world needs more recognition of good mathematics and mathematicians. Really love the work quantum magazine does on covering mathematics. So many implications for the rest of the world.
  • by friend_and_foe on 3/31/24, 6:08 AM

    I've found his work on inequalities, but the article mentions in passing that he did some good work on the teavellimg salesman problem and I can't seem to find anything about it. Does anyone know where I could find it?
  • by uptownfunk on 4/1/24, 3:48 AM

    My problem was always I took on too much so I had surprising breadth. I could find connections between many areas. I wish I had just focused on one or two things and gone very very deep. I would probably be a more fulfilled academic today if I was able to do that instead of an engineering manager.
  • by jylam on 3/31/24, 4:40 PM

    Weird that neither his name (Michel Talagrand) nor his nationality (French) are mentioned in the title. His nationality is not even mentioned in the article. I'd be pissed if I were him, doing something that important, and not even getting your name in the title.
  • by __lbracket__ on 3/31/24, 11:01 PM

    How many women were nominated and denied?
  • by abhinavstarts on 3/31/24, 10:56 AM

    Can someone please share the actual work for which he was awarded, I couldn't find.
  • by fmajid on 3/31/24, 10:58 AM

    Yes, it’s the equivalent to the Nobel in that it’s yearly with a big monetary prize, but the most prestigious award in the field remains the Fields medal, which is only awarded every four years.
  • by owlbite on 3/31/24, 4:27 PM

    And here I was thinking the Fields Medal was Math's Top Prize.