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Although these short papers are fun, I think the most interesting papers are those that are both important and concise. One of my favorite examples is Josh Nash
by johnjwang 9y ago
Although these short papers are fun, I think the most interesting papers are those that are both important and concise. One of my favorite examples is Josh Nash's proof of the existence of Nash Equilibria (which is a foundational concept in game theory and arguably won Nash a Nobel):
http://www.pnas.org/content/36/1/48.full http://www.pnas.org/content/36/1/48.full
It's less than a full page in the original journal.
- alvis 9y agoI love this example which shows how a "novel" publication can be that simple and beautiful.
- ziotom78 9y agoAgreed. In a few days I'm supposed to give a lecture about how to write great scientific papers. I wasn't aware of this paper (I'm aphysicist, not a mathematician), but nevertheless I'm going to discuss it with the class, its conciseness is exemplary! Thanks a lot!
- purelitmass 9y agoCan you post your presentation here?? I would be interested to see it.
- ziotom78 9y agoI would be happy to put it on slideshare, but it's going to be written in italian… Be sure to check this video, as it is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dkRsTqdDA&index=38&list=FLBZKlP8DEZVtccs4NTezZ_g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3dkRsTqdDA&index=38&list=FL...
- tinyrick2 9y agoHis Ph.D. thesis is also relatively short (just 28 pages): https://rbsc.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/Non-Cooperative_Games_Nash.pdf https://rbsc.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/Non-Cooperati...
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- lancebeet 9y agoIs this some sort of draft? I've seen manuscripts from the 30s that are much more legible.
- bstamour 9y agoMy supervisor's thesis from the 70's is in about as good as shape as the one linked. Must depend on when it was scanned.
- z2 9y agoThere's a related, typeset version from the Annals of Mathematics five months later, on page 9 of: https://webspace.princeton.edu/users/mudd/Digitization/AC105/AC105_Nash_John_Forbes_1950.pdf https://webspace.princeton.edu/users/mudd/Digitization/AC105... While we're on the subject of brevity, page 23 has the shortest recommendation letter I've ever seen.
- kayhi 9y agoThe discovery of DNA was also a page and yielded a Nobel prize https://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/watsoncrick.pdf https://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/watsoncrick.pdf
- eqmvii 9y agoI always loved this line: "It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material." (Your link appears broken, btw)
- elsherbini 9y agoThe discovery of the structure of DNA*. DNA had been known as one of the components of cells for a long time, and the Avery, Macleod, and McCarty paper from 1944[0] showed that DNA was the substance that carried information, rather than protein. [0] http://jem.rupress.org/content/79/2/137 http://jem.rupress.org/content/79/2/137
- ticklemyelmo 9y agoNature appears to do some silly referrer blocking. It's the first link under "archive" on https://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/archive.html https://www.nature.com/nature/dna50/archive.html
- StavrosK 9y agoThat wasn't working for me either. Here's an IPFS link: https://www.eternum.io/ipfs/QmaCQy4GdRTh6jHf2eDJVoWzgHzTbwVjCff6sHie9eWeUJ/watsoncrick.pdf https://www.eternum.io/ipfs/QmaCQy4GdRTh6jHf2eDJVoWzgHzTbwVj...