6 ms·

Ask HN: What's your favorite scientific paper?

67 points by pc 17y ago

What's your favorite scientific paper, from any field? (Particularly interested in papers which readers here think are truly great, but, for whatever reason, aren't very widely known.)

beza1e1 17y ago
My current favorite paper of the month: "An efficient implementation of graph grammars based on the RETE matching algorithm" by H. Bunke, T. Glauser, T. Tran http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BFb0017389 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BFb0017389 Abstract: This paper is concerned with the efficient determination of the set of productions of a graph grammar that are applicable in one rewriting step. We propose a new algorithm that is a generalization of a similar algorithm originally developed for forward chaining production systems. The time complexity of the proposed method is not better than that of a naive solution, in the worst case. In the best case, however, a significant speedup can be achieved. Some experiments supporting the results of a theoretical complexity analysis are described.
tectonic 17y ago
Radia Perlman's pivotal 1985 paper "An algorithm for distributed computation of a spanningtree in an extended LAN" http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~ji/F02/ir02/p44-perlman.pdf http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~ji/F02/ir02/p44-perlman.pdf More papers should have their algorithms in rhyme! Algorhyme I think that I shall never see A graph more lovely than a tree A tree whose crucial property Is loop-free connectivity. A tree which must be sure to span So packets can reach every LAN. First the Root must be selected By ID it is elected. Least cost paths from Root are traced. In the tree these paths are placed A mesh is made by folks like me Then bridges find a spanning tree.
akkartik 17y ago
The magic ink paper was on top of HN 2 years ago[1]. I remember bouncing off it the first half dozen times I ran across it on the blogosphere. Eventually I focused, and boy was it worth it: http://worrydream.com/MagicInk http://worrydream.com/MagicInk It's still my #1 paper of all time, for both exposition and presentation (layout, typography, figures), and the paper I have quoted most often on my linkblog (http://akkartik.name/search_results?q=bret+victor http://akkartik.name/search_results?q=bret+victor) I wanted to submit this to the recent thread on the future of UI (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1055194 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1055194) [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8120 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8120. 19 points was a lot in those days. Edit: searchyc tells me it was resubmitted 8 months ago with success (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=600799 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=600799)
- jacobolus 17y ago
  Not to knock the author, but this essay is basically a rehash of Edward Tufte’s ideas, with a couple examples from computer software, and his own BART schedule program as an extended case study. It’s interesting enough, but too long, unfocused, and disorganized (which is probably why you bounced off a half dozen times). If you’re interested in the topic (information design), you’ll get more mileage just going straight to Tufte’s books. Scott McCloud’s book, which the author recommends, is also excellent.
  - akkartik 17y ago
    Of course I've heard of and read Tufte! But he doesn't emphasize nearly as much the idea that you can use visual design to eliminate interactions. The closest I can think of is his critique of iPhone UI: http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/iphone-video.adp http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/iphone-video.adp "which is probably why you bounced off a half dozen times" I bounced off after the abstract, long before I could judge length, focus or organization.
vonsydov 17y ago
frames by minsky
- Confusion 17y ago
  A summary of the subject matter, the reasons why you like it or a link to an online version would vastly improve your comment.
  - philk 17y ago
    It's an AI concept for representing knowledge. Here's the link: http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/Frames/frames.html http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/Frames/frames.html And here is a wikipedia article describing the concept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_(artificial_intelligence) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_(artificial_intelligence)
Herring 17y ago
http://www.ps.uci.edu/~markm/einstein/aharonov_einstein.pdf http://www.ps.uci.edu/~markm/einstein/aharonov_einstein.pdf Curious quantum eraser article on Science a while ago.
jhickner 17y ago
"Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments." http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121 http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0... a.k.a. the dunning-kruger effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect
- anatoly 17y ago
  this is useful: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/11/all-are-unaware.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/11/all-are-unaware.html
  - onoj 17y ago
    Also agree - but the wake up call for me was that my lack of understanding of a topic biased me towards thinking that the topic was trivial - ie: I was unable to appreciate how ignorant I was. This was a world shaker for me. My own cognitive filters were denying me understanding.
- onoj 17y ago
  I agree. The impact of this paper on my understanding of my own nature, the nature of those around me and the overall social-political structure of the World is immense.
las3rjock 17y ago
A few of my favorites, chosen from computer science and from physics: D. E. Knuth, "An empirical study of FORTRAN programs," Software: Practice and Experience, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 105-133, 1971. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380010203 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380010203 A choice quote: "A first idea for obtaining 'typical' programs was to go to Stanford's Computation Center and rummage in the waste baskets and the recycling bins. This gave results but showed immediately what should have been obvious: waste-baskets usually receive undebugged programs." D. E. Knuth, "The errors of TeX," Software: Practice and Experience, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 607-685, 1989. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380190702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380190702 Knuth recounts and analyzes the process of developing the TeX computer typesetting system. A. Einstein, "Zur elektrodynamik bewegter körper," Annalen der Physik, vol. 322, no. 10, pp. 891-921, 1905. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/andp.19053221004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/andp.19053221004 Einstein's seminal paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" that proposed the theory of special relativity. A good English translation is available online at http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/specrel.pdf
tokenadult 17y ago
"Massive IQ Gains in 14 Nations: What IQ Tests Really Measure" by James R. Flynn in Psychological Bulletin. Here is the correct APA citation form, modernized with the doi reference: Flynn, J. R. (1987). Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: What IQ tests really measure. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 171-191. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.171 URL: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/101/2/171.html http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/101/2/171.html This was a path-breaking paper, which, as N.J. Mackintosh comments, introduced many psychologists to long-ignored data that could have been noticed long ago: "the data are surprising, demolish some long-cherished beliefs, and raise a number of other interesting issues along the way."
- beza1e1 17y ago
  I never bothered to look up the "IQ tests are broken" statement. Scheduled this paper for reading.
tel 17y ago
Shannon's original paper introducing Information Theory is pretty great. Shannon 48 [http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pd...]
- evgen 17y ago
  How about his master's thesis. In "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" Shannon proved that you could use boolean algebra to simplify the arrangement of electromechanical relays in telephone routing networks and then in the same thesis inverted the reasoning to show that by using these relays in the proper arrangement you could solve boolean algebra problems. All digital computers have some DNA that leads back to this paper he wrote when he was 21... As comic-book guy would say: Best. Master's Thesis. Ever.
  - tel 17y ago
    Widely known as the best masters thesis ever, yeah, but I still put his Info Theo paper as my favorite. Maybe he just had a little time to age, the theoretical ground he covers in that one paper is incredible and yet the text remains conversational and approachable.
BrentRitterbeck 17y ago
"Estimating betas from nonsynchronous data" by Myron Scholes and Joseph Williams in Journal of Financial Economics, December 1977, pgs. 309-327. Abstract is below. Nonsynchronous trading of securities introduces into the market model a potentially serious econometric problem of errors in variables. In this paper properties of the observed market model and associated ordinary least squares estimators are developed in detail. In addition, computationally convenient, consistent estimators for parameters of the market model are calculated and then applied to daily returns of securities listed in the NYSE and ASE.
naveensundar 17y ago
The paper which started it all :) http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/turing_oncomputablenumbers_1936.pdf http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/turing_oncomputablen...
neilc 17y ago
The System R retrospective paper is a pretty masterful example of a CS systems paper: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/cs262/SystemR.pdf http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/cs262/SystemR.pdf It helps that they are describing a pioneering software project and they had the benefit of hindsight, but nonetheless, a great read.
shalmanese 17y ago
Principles of traditional animation applied to 3D computer animation. By John Lasseter of Pixar fame, breaking down the infamous Luxo Jr animation. http://www.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps124/fall01/resources/p35-lasseter.pdf http://www.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps124/fall01/resources/p35-l... Dietary pesticides (99.99% all natural). By Bruce Ames, inventor of the Ames test on how virtually all of our toxic chemical ingestion comes from natural, plant sources. And completely destroying the myth of organic food being less harmful. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/87/19/7777.pdf http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/87/19/7777.pdf A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples. The only paper in history to be condemned by the US House of Representatives. http://www.psycnet.org/journals/bul/124/1/22.pdf http://www.psycnet.org/journals/bul/124/1/22.pdf
whyenot 17y ago
A little off the beaten track for HN, but a classic paper in ecology that introduced the idea of trophic cascades: Hairston, Smith and Slobodkin. 1960. Community structure, population control, and competition. American Naturalist 94: 421-425. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade for more information
mirrors 17y ago
"Through a Glass Darkly" by Steven Krantz abstract: We consider the question of how mathematicians view themselves and how non-mathematicians view us. What is our role in society? Is it effective? Is it rewarding? How could it be improved? This paper will be part of a forthcoming volume on this circle of questions.
- djm 17y ago
  I'm reading a book at the moment called 'the mathematical experience' by Davis and Hersh which looks at some of these same issues. I haven't got very far through it yet but it seems like a good book so if you're interested in this sort of thing you might want to check it out.
thisrod 17y ago
Cavendish's Experiments to determine the Density of the Earth is still worth reading. In the 18th century, it took some impressive hacking to isolate two balls sufficiently that their mutual gravity was the strongest force acting on them.
proemeth 17y ago
I like Guy Steele's "Debunking the 'Expensive Procedure Call' Myth". http://repository.readscheme.org/ftp/papers/ai-lab-pubs/AIM-443.pdf http://repository.readscheme.org/ftp/papers/ai-lab-pubs/AIM-...
natch 17y ago
The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin is pretty good, and is considered a classic. http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_... It's in the field of population biology, but the principles are broadly applicable to any system where self-interested actors can gain more than they lose by actions that hurt the community.
gphil 17y ago
Ken Thompson's "Reflections on Trusting Trust." Actually, I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet: http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html.
- mrduncan 17y ago
  One of my favorites as well. What really fascinates me about it is it's length, it can't be more than a couple of pages printed yet it introduces a very powerful concept.
rawwell 17y ago
378 page attempt to proove 1+1=2 http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2006/06/extreme_math_1_1_2.php http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2006/06/extreme_math_1_1_2.... "after 378 pages, <Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead> were able to talk about how you could prove that 1+1=2. But they couldn't actually do it yet, because they hadn't yet managed to define addition."
dneun 17y ago
John Backus: Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style? A Functional Style and Its Algebra of Programs http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/backus_turingaward_lecture.pdf http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/backus_turingaward_l...
BioGeek 17y ago
Ben Fry (of Processing fame)'s PhD thesis: "Computational Information Design". Abstract: The ability to collect, store, and manage data is increasing quickly, but our ability to understand it remains constant. In an attempt to gain better understanding of data, fields such as information visualization, data mining and graphic design are employed, each solving an isolated part of the specifi c problem, but failing in a broader sense: there are too many unsolved problems in the visualization of complex data. As a solution, this dissertation proposes that the individual fi elds be brought together as part of a singular process titled Computational Information Design. This dissertation first examines the individual pedagogies of design, information, and computation with a focus on how they support one another as parts of a combined methodology for the exploration, analysis, and representation of complex data. Next, in order to make the process accessible to a wider audience, a tool is introduced to simplify the computational process for beginners, and can be used as a sketching platform by more advanced users. Finally, a series of examples show how the methodology and tool can be used to address a range of data problems, in particular, the human genome. http://benfry.com/phd/ http://benfry.com/phd/
figured 17y ago
I am quite surprised that I don't see Roy Fielding's "Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures" on this list (aka his REST PHD paper). I have not read many dissertation, in fact i think this is the only one, but I found it very approachable. http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm
billswift 17y ago
It isn't quite a scientific paper, but Feynman's "Personal Observations on the Reliability of the Shuttle", http://www.fotuva.org/feynman/challenger-appendix.html http://www.fotuva.org/feynman/challenger-appendix.html, published as an appendix to the commission's report is an excellent piece of work.
abyssknight 17y ago
Robust Real-time Object Detection http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/viola/Pubs/Detect/violaJones_IJCV.pdf http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/viola/Pubs/Det... This paper describes a visual object detection framework that is capable of processing images extremely rapidly while achieving high detection rates. There are three key contributions. The first is the introduction of a new image representation called the “Integral Image” which allows the features used by our detector to be computed very quickly. The second is a learning algorithm, based on AdaBoost, which selects a small number of critical visual features and yields extremely efficient classifiers [6]. The third contribution is a method for combining classifiers in a “cascade” which allows background regions of the image to be quickly discarded while spending more computation on promising object-like regions. A set of experiments in the domain of face detection are presented. The system yields face detection performace comparable to the best previous systems [18, 13, 16, 12, 1]. Implemented on a conventional desktop, face detection proceeds at 15 frames per second.
greatfog 17y ago
Lucas Kovar, Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass [http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html] Abstract: The exponential dependence of resistivity on temperature in germanium is found to be a great big lie. My careful theoretical modeling and painstaking experimentation reveal 1) that my equipment is crap, as are all the available texts on the subject and 2) that this whole exercise was a complete waste of my time.
yu 17y ago
- Codd 1969/1970 Relation algebra, operations, model papers - Crick, Watson, (Franklin, Wilkin) Nature article on DNA. - Shannon, Information Theory as listed/ mentioned.
Chirag 17y ago
Marketing Myopia - Theodore Levitt 16 pages. Publication date: Jul 01, 2004 http://www.casadogalo.com/marketingmyopia.pdf http://www.casadogalo.com/marketingmyopia.pdf At some point in its development, every industry can be considered a growth industry, based on the apparent superiority of its product. But in case after case, industries have fallen under the shadow of mismanagement. What usually gets emphasized is selling, not marketing. This is a mistake, because selling focuses on the needs of the seller, whereas marketing concentrates on the needs of the buyer. In this widely quoted and anthologized article, first published in 1960, Theodore Levitt argues that "the history of every dead and dying 'growth' industry shows a self-deceiving cycle of bountiful expansion and undetected decay." But, as he illustrates, memories are short.

67 points by pc 17y ago

What's your favorite scientific paper, from any field? (Particularly interested in papers which readers here think are truly great, but, for whatever reason, aren't very widely known.)

beza1e1 17y ago

My current favorite paper of the month: "An efficient implementation of graph grammars based on the RETE matching algorithm" by H. Bunke, T. Glauser, T. Tran http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BFb0017389 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BFb0017389 Abstract: This paper is concerned with the efficient determination of the set of productions of a graph grammar that are applicable in one rewriting step. We propose a new algorithm that is a generalization of a similar algorithm originally developed for forward chaining production systems. The time complexity of the proposed method is not better than that of a naive solution, in the worst case. In the best case, however, a significant speedup can be achieved. Some experiments supporting the results of a theoretical complexity analysis are described.

tectonic 17y ago

Radia Perlman's pivotal 1985 paper "An algorithm for distributed computation of a spanningtree in an extended LAN" http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~ji/F02/ir02/p44-perlman.pdf http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~ji/F02/ir02/p44-perlman.pdf More papers should have their algorithms in rhyme! Algorhyme I think that I shall never see A graph more lovely than a tree A tree whose crucial property Is loop-free connectivity. A tree which must be sure to span So packets can reach every LAN. First the Root must be selected By ID it is elected. Least cost paths from Root are traced. In the tree these paths are placed A mesh is made by folks like me Then bridges find a spanning tree.

akkartik 17y ago

The magic ink paper was on top of HN 2 years ago[1]. I remember bouncing off it the first half dozen times I ran across it on the blogosphere. Eventually I focused, and boy was it worth it: http://worrydream.com/MagicInk http://worrydream.com/MagicInk It's still my #1 paper of all time, for both exposition and presentation (layout, typography, figures), and the paper I have quoted most often on my linkblog (http://akkartik.name/search_results?q=bret+victor http://akkartik.name/search_results?q=bret+victor) I wanted to submit this to the recent thread on the future of UI (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1055194 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1055194) [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8120 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8120. 19 points was a lot in those days. Edit: searchyc tells me it was resubmitted 8 months ago with success (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=600799 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=600799)

jacobolus 17y ago
Not to knock the author, but this essay is basically a rehash of Edward Tufte’s ideas, with a couple examples from computer software, and his own BART schedule program as an extended case study. It’s interesting enough, but too long, unfocused, and disorganized (which is probably why you bounced off a half dozen times). If you’re interested in the topic (information design), you’ll get more mileage just going straight to Tufte’s books. Scott McCloud’s book, which the author recommends, is also excellent.
- akkartik 17y ago
  Of course I've heard of and read Tufte! But he doesn't emphasize nearly as much the idea that you can use visual design to eliminate interactions. The closest I can think of is his critique of iPhone UI: http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/iphone-video.adp http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/iphone-video.adp "which is probably why you bounced off a half dozen times" I bounced off after the abstract, long before I could judge length, focus or organization.

vonsydov 17y ago

frames by minsky

Confusion 17y ago
A summary of the subject matter, the reasons why you like it or a link to an online version would vastly improve your comment.
- philk 17y ago
  It's an AI concept for representing knowledge. Here's the link: http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/Frames/frames.html http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/papers/Frames/frames.html And here is a wikipedia article describing the concept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_(artificial_intelligence) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_(artificial_intelligence)

Herring 17y ago

http://www.ps.uci.edu/~markm/einstein/aharonov_einstein.pdf http://www.ps.uci.edu/~markm/einstein/aharonov_einstein.pdf Curious quantum eraser article on Science a while ago.

jhickner 17y ago

"Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments." http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121 http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0... a.k.a. the dunning-kruger effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

anatoly 17y ago
this is useful: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/11/all-are-unaware.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/11/all-are-unaware.html
- onoj 17y ago
  Also agree - but the wake up call for me was that my lack of understanding of a topic biased me towards thinking that the topic was trivial - ie: I was unable to appreciate how ignorant I was. This was a world shaker for me. My own cognitive filters were denying me understanding.
onoj 17y ago
I agree. The impact of this paper on my understanding of my own nature, the nature of those around me and the overall social-political structure of the World is immense.

las3rjock 17y ago

A few of my favorites, chosen from computer science and from physics: D. E. Knuth, "An empirical study of FORTRAN programs," Software: Practice and Experience, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 105-133, 1971. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380010203 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380010203 A choice quote: "A first idea for obtaining 'typical' programs was to go to Stanford's Computation Center and rummage in the waste baskets and the recycling bins. This gave results but showed immediately what should have been obvious: waste-baskets usually receive undebugged programs." D. E. Knuth, "The errors of TeX," Software: Practice and Experience, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 607-685, 1989. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380190702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/spe.4380190702 Knuth recounts and analyzes the process of developing the TeX computer typesetting system. A. Einstein, "Zur elektrodynamik bewegter körper," Annalen der Physik, vol. 322, no. 10, pp. 891-921, 1905. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/andp.19053221004 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/andp.19053221004 Einstein's seminal paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" that proposed the theory of special relativity. A good English translation is available online at http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/specrel.pdf

tokenadult 17y ago

"Massive IQ Gains in 14 Nations: What IQ Tests Really Measure" by James R. Flynn in Psychological Bulletin. Here is the correct APA citation form, modernized with the doi reference: Flynn, J. R. (1987). Massive IQ gains in 14 nations: What IQ tests really measure. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 171-191. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.171 URL: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/101/2/171.html http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/101/2/171.html This was a path-breaking paper, which, as N.J. Mackintosh comments, introduced many psychologists to long-ignored data that could have been noticed long ago: "the data are surprising, demolish some long-cherished beliefs, and raise a number of other interesting issues along the way."

beza1e1 17y ago
I never bothered to look up the "IQ tests are broken" statement. Scheduled this paper for reading.

tel 17y ago

Shannon's original paper introducing Information Theory is pretty great. Shannon 48 [http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pdf http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/ms/what/shannonday/shannon1948.pd...]

evgen 17y ago
How about his master's thesis. In "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" Shannon proved that you could use boolean algebra to simplify the arrangement of electromechanical relays in telephone routing networks and then in the same thesis inverted the reasoning to show that by using these relays in the proper arrangement you could solve boolean algebra problems. All digital computers have some DNA that leads back to this paper he wrote when he was 21... As comic-book guy would say: Best. Master's Thesis. Ever.
- tel 17y ago
  Widely known as the best masters thesis ever, yeah, but I still put his Info Theo paper as my favorite. Maybe he just had a little time to age, the theoretical ground he covers in that one paper is incredible and yet the text remains conversational and approachable.

BrentRitterbeck 17y ago

"Estimating betas from nonsynchronous data" by Myron Scholes and Joseph Williams in Journal of Financial Economics, December 1977, pgs. 309-327. Abstract is below. Nonsynchronous trading of securities introduces into the market model a potentially serious econometric problem of errors in variables. In this paper properties of the observed market model and associated ordinary least squares estimators are developed in detail. In addition, computationally convenient, consistent estimators for parameters of the market model are calculated and then applied to daily returns of securities listed in the NYSE and ASE.

naveensundar 17y ago

The paper which started it all :) http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/turing_oncomputablenumbers_1936.pdf http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/turing_oncomputablen...

neilc 17y ago

The System R retrospective paper is a pretty masterful example of a CS systems paper: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/cs262/SystemR.pdf http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~brewer/cs262/SystemR.pdf It helps that they are describing a pioneering software project and they had the benefit of hindsight, but nonetheless, a great read.

shalmanese 17y ago

Principles of traditional animation applied to 3D computer animation. By John Lasseter of Pixar fame, breaking down the infamous Luxo Jr animation. http://www.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps124/fall01/resources/p35-lasseter.pdf http://www.cs.duke.edu/courses/cps124/fall01/resources/p35-l... Dietary pesticides (99.99% all natural). By Bruce Ames, inventor of the Ames test on how virtually all of our toxic chemical ingestion comes from natural, plant sources. And completely destroying the myth of organic food being less harmful. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/87/19/7777.pdf http://www.pnas.org/cgi/reprint/87/19/7777.pdf A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples. The only paper in history to be condemned by the US House of Representatives. http://www.psycnet.org/journals/bul/124/1/22.pdf http://www.psycnet.org/journals/bul/124/1/22.pdf

whyenot 17y ago

A little off the beaten track for HN, but a classic paper in ecology that introduced the idea of trophic cascades: Hairston, Smith and Slobodkin. 1960. Community structure, population control, and competition. American Naturalist 94: 421-425. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade for more information

mirrors 17y ago

"Through a Glass Darkly" by Steven Krantz abstract: We consider the question of how mathematicians view themselves and how non-mathematicians view us. What is our role in society? Is it effective? Is it rewarding? How could it be improved? This paper will be part of a forthcoming volume on this circle of questions.

djm 17y ago
I'm reading a book at the moment called 'the mathematical experience' by Davis and Hersh which looks at some of these same issues. I haven't got very far through it yet but it seems like a good book so if you're interested in this sort of thing you might want to check it out.

thisrod 17y ago

Cavendish's Experiments to determine the Density of the Earth is still worth reading. In the 18th century, it took some impressive hacking to isolate two balls sufficiently that their mutual gravity was the strongest force acting on them.

proemeth 17y ago

I like Guy Steele's "Debunking the 'Expensive Procedure Call' Myth". http://repository.readscheme.org/ftp/papers/ai-lab-pubs/AIM-443.pdf http://repository.readscheme.org/ftp/papers/ai-lab-pubs/AIM-...

natch 17y ago

The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin is pretty good, and is considered a classic. http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_the_commons.html http://www.garretthardinsociety.org/articles/art_tragedy_of_... It's in the field of population biology, but the principles are broadly applicable to any system where self-interested actors can gain more than they lose by actions that hurt the community.

gphil 17y ago

Ken Thompson's "Reflections on Trusting Trust." Actually, I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet: http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html.

mrduncan 17y ago
One of my favorites as well. What really fascinates me about it is it's length, it can't be more than a couple of pages printed yet it introduces a very powerful concept.

rawwell 17y ago

378 page attempt to proove 1+1=2 http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2006/06/extreme_math_1_1_2.php http://scienceblogs.com/goodmath/2006/06/extreme_math_1_1_2.... "after 378 pages, <Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead> were able to talk about how you could prove that 1+1=2. But they couldn't actually do it yet, because they hadn't yet managed to define addition."

dneun 17y ago

John Backus: Can Programming Be Liberated from the von Neumann Style? A Functional Style and Its Algebra of Programs http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/backus_turingaward_lecture.pdf http://www.thocp.net/biographies/papers/backus_turingaward_l...

BioGeek 17y ago

Ben Fry (of Processing fame)'s PhD thesis: "Computational Information Design". Abstract: The ability to collect, store, and manage data is increasing quickly, but our ability to understand it remains constant. In an attempt to gain better understanding of data, fields such as information visualization, data mining and graphic design are employed, each solving an isolated part of the specifi c problem, but failing in a broader sense: there are too many unsolved problems in the visualization of complex data. As a solution, this dissertation proposes that the individual fi elds be brought together as part of a singular process titled Computational Information Design. This dissertation first examines the individual pedagogies of design, information, and computation with a focus on how they support one another as parts of a combined methodology for the exploration, analysis, and representation of complex data. Next, in order to make the process accessible to a wider audience, a tool is introduced to simplify the computational process for beginners, and can be used as a sketching platform by more advanced users. Finally, a series of examples show how the methodology and tool can be used to address a range of data problems, in particular, the human genome. http://benfry.com/phd/ http://benfry.com/phd/

figured 17y ago

I am quite surprised that I don't see Roy Fielding's "Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures" on this list (aka his REST PHD paper). I have not read many dissertation, in fact i think this is the only one, but I found it very approachable. http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm

billswift 17y ago

It isn't quite a scientific paper, but Feynman's "Personal Observations on the Reliability of the Shuttle", http://www.fotuva.org/feynman/challenger-appendix.html http://www.fotuva.org/feynman/challenger-appendix.html, published as an appendix to the commission's report is an excellent piece of work.

abyssknight 17y ago

Robust Real-time Object Detection http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/viola/Pubs/Detect/violaJones_IJCV.pdf http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/viola/Pubs/Det... This paper describes a visual object detection framework that is capable of processing images extremely rapidly while achieving high detection rates. There are three key contributions. The first is the introduction of a new image representation called the “Integral Image” which allows the features used by our detector to be computed very quickly. The second is a learning algorithm, based on AdaBoost, which selects a small number of critical visual features and yields extremely efficient classifiers [6]. The third contribution is a method for combining classifiers in a “cascade” which allows background regions of the image to be quickly discarded while spending more computation on promising object-like regions. A set of experiments in the domain of face detection are presented. The system yields face detection performace comparable to the best previous systems [18, 13, 16, 12, 1]. Implemented on a conventional desktop, face detection proceeds at 15 frames per second.

greatfog 17y ago

Lucas Kovar, Electron Band Structure In Germanium, My Ass [http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html] Abstract: The exponential dependence of resistivity on temperature in germanium is found to be a great big lie. My careful theoretical modeling and painstaking experimentation reveal 1) that my equipment is crap, as are all the available texts on the subject and 2) that this whole exercise was a complete waste of my time.

yu 17y ago

- Codd 1969/1970 Relation algebra, operations, model papers - Crick, Watson, (Franklin, Wilkin) Nature article on DNA. - Shannon, Information Theory as listed/ mentioned.

Chirag 17y ago

Marketing Myopia - Theodore Levitt 16 pages. Publication date: Jul 01, 2004 http://www.casadogalo.com/marketingmyopia.pdf http://www.casadogalo.com/marketingmyopia.pdf At some point in its development, every industry can be considered a growth industry, based on the apparent superiority of its product. But in case after case, industries have fallen under the shadow of mismanagement. What usually gets emphasized is selling, not marketing. This is a mistake, because selling focuses on the needs of the seller, whereas marketing concentrates on the needs of the buyer. In this widely quoted and anthologized article, first published in 1960, Theodore Levitt argues that "the history of every dead and dying 'growth' industry shows a self-deceiving cycle of bountiful expansion and undetected decay." But, as he illustrates, memories are short.