7 ms·

This guy has a background in computer science, but taught himself biology to spearhead the regenerative medicine movement. If I'm not mistaken, he published a b

This guy has a background in computer science, but taught himself biology to spearhead the regenerative medicine movement. If I'm not mistaken, he published a book in biology with no formal credentials (16 years after receiving his BA in computer science), after which Cambridge honored him with a PhD in the subject. He's also Thiel backed.

brightball 9y ago
I find that I’m much more open to teaching myself just about anything now. Years of learning every new thing under the sun in the software world will do that. Doesn’t surprise me at all to hear this.
brmgb 9y ago
> honored him with a PhD in the subject Just to precise if you were confused like me, Cambridge gave him an actual PhD in Biology based on the book - meaning the book satisfied all the prerequisites of a PhD at Cambridge and he had to do a viva - not just an honorary degree. That's quite an impressive fellow.
- jey 9y ago
  > viva I wasn't familiar with this term; apparently it refers to the "oral defense" of a PhD thesis.
  - schoen 9y ago
    From Latin "viva voce", literally 'with a live voice' and roughly meaning 'aloud'. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/viva_voce#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/viva_voce#English
    - ramesh92 9y ago
      edwsgfsd
  - kenver 9y ago
    One of the toughest experiences of my work life was my viva. The examiner picks at every hole in your work and you need to have an answer. Even if the answer is acknowledging it and proposing future work. It's a very useful experience, and when combined with the rest of a PhD, teaches you to be humble and accept that criticism of work is not an attack on the author. I still have nightmares about mine!
  - Angostura 9y ago
    At my university you also got a 'viva voce' as an undergraduate if your BSc is borderline between two grades. I received one and yes, I got the lower grade.
  - stordoff 9y ago
    It's not strictly limited to just PhDs - at my university, I was required to take one for a year-end undergraduate project.
- jrq 9y ago
  So then amateur mathematician is a bit misleading? It sounds like this guy is a marvelous person at whatever he does. How can he be an amateur ANYTHING but have a PhD?
  - Eldandan 9y ago
    I think amateur in this case refers to non-professional / research mathematician with a PhD working at a University or a Research Institute. You still need to have some serious math chops to get this kind of result, it just isn't reflected in your official title or degree.
    - userbinator 9y ago
      "Independent" might be a better adjective for someone like that.
      - Jtsummers 9y ago
        If you're not doing it for profit, you're an amateur. Independent would suggest he could still doing math professionally but on a contract or otherwise unaffiliated basis.
        deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
        pbhjpbhj 9y ago
        Hmm, that is a definition of amateur; just as "professional" can mean you make a living from it. However amateur often means - in British English - simply "low skilled" as professional can mean "formally carried out with high competence".
  - truculation 9y ago
    IIRC this guy or his associates dug up soil from a medieval burial site near Cambridge (England) to try and find a bacterial enzyme capable of breaking down 7-ketocholesterol (and hence potentially to cure artherosclerosis). Maybe not Indiana Jones but certainly ingenius and intrepid!
- adw 9y ago
  The way a Cambridge PhD works, I believe – and I think this is the same across the UK – is that the only things you actually have to do are; a) write a thesis b) find examiners (internal and external) who agree to examine you; if you're a grad student this is your advisor's job. The examination is by thesis review followed by pass/pass-with-corrections/fail oral exam. It can take as long as it needs to (typically three to four hours), and is in private; it's not like public defenses elsewhere, which are for show, this is a real live-fire exam and I know people who have failed c) pass d) ... that's it; there is no part d) In particular, there are no quals or other requirements; the degree is an old-school medieval masterwork deal. You submit your thesis and get examined on it. Typically you write your thesis through an apprenticeship to your advisor, but that's not actually required, it's just conventional; in Aubrey's case, the thesis was the book and the research proceeded by unusual means over a long period of time. Nevertheless, he got examined in the same way everyone else does, he passed like everyone else did, so he has his PhD. (source: my own memory, I know Aubrey and have worked with him on a couple of non-science things fifteen years ago, and I got my PhD from Cambridge through the traditional route of being a grad student – thesis at https://aspace.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/218854?show=full https://aspace.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/218854?show=...)
  - gowld 9y ago
    It was only slightly unusual. de Gray got an undergrad (computer science) degree from Cambridge and married a Cambridge biologist and then worked at a biology-computing lab while writing the book. With the professor and the lab (and the upper class boarding school and multimillionaire mother), the only thing missing was a formal admission to the PhD program.
  - jamessb 9y ago
    If you are seeking the Ph.D. Degree under the normal regulations, you are required to have "kept three terms at least by residence" (i.e. have lived within three miles of Great St. Mary's Church for a year) [1]. There is also a minimum time of 9 terms (ie. 3 years) that must be spent as a Graudate Student [2]. The alternative 'special regulations' apply only to graduates of the Cambridge University, or graduates of another university who have been admitted "to some office in the University or to a Headship or a Fellowship of a College" [3]. > d) ... that's it; there is no part d) Well, the most likely outcome of the viva is a pass with minor corrections, so there typically is a part d - "make the corrections requested by the examiners and re-submit". [1]: https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter02-section9.html#xref-A-4137-1 https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter02-section9.... [2]: https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13.html#heading1-13 https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13... [3]: https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13.html#heading2-54 https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13...
- btcindivist 9y ago
  I'm not sure. Given that he was in a relationship with a professor there, he might have got an easy pass.
HiroshiSan 9y ago
Gotta downplay his achievements to fit the narrative of the 'prodigy'.
- 8bitsrule 9y ago
  Another such word: 'fringe'
  - ramesh92 9y ago
    scadfdgf
- sd90909 9y ago
  What do you mean? How is it downplaying?
  - HiroshiSan 9y ago
    Downplaying in the sense that it's god given and not sweat equity.
dabockster 9y ago
> He's also Thiel backed. Is having Thiel's association a positive thing still? Serious question.
- glibgil 9y ago
  Given Thiel's interest in longevity, yes
  - grkvlt 9y ago
    Oh great; an immortal Peter Thiel, just what the world needs...!
- bhasi 9y ago
  Oh, I thought the implication was the other way around, something to do with Thiel's political leanings. My bad.
- nontechdude1 9y ago
  from a political perspective, no. if you care about actual technological accomplishments, as a technologist, peter thiel's endorsement should matter a lot.
- jimmy1 9y ago
  Absolutely, especially depending on our audience. To your typical SJW crowd, probably not. To everyone else, yes.
- toren 9y ago
  I would assume so. I couldn't care less about his political affiliations
  - billhendricksjr 9y ago
    His political affiliations are in conflict with his desire for long life, given who has the nuclear football. I don’t care, I’m an atheist with no kids who’d be bored out of my mind before I hit 300 years old, much less 1,000.

brightball 9y ago

I find that I’m much more open to teaching myself just about anything now. Years of learning every new thing under the sun in the software world will do that. Doesn’t surprise me at all to hear this.

brmgb 9y ago

> honored him with a PhD in the subject Just to precise if you were confused like me, Cambridge gave him an actual PhD in Biology based on the book - meaning the book satisfied all the prerequisites of a PhD at Cambridge and he had to do a viva - not just an honorary degree. That's quite an impressive fellow.

jey 9y ago
> viva I wasn't familiar with this term; apparently it refers to the "oral defense" of a PhD thesis.
- schoen 9y ago
  From Latin "viva voce", literally 'with a live voice' and roughly meaning 'aloud'. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/viva_voce#English https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/viva_voce#English
  - ramesh92 9y ago
    edwsgfsd
- kenver 9y ago
  One of the toughest experiences of my work life was my viva. The examiner picks at every hole in your work and you need to have an answer. Even if the answer is acknowledging it and proposing future work. It's a very useful experience, and when combined with the rest of a PhD, teaches you to be humble and accept that criticism of work is not an attack on the author. I still have nightmares about mine!
- Angostura 9y ago
  At my university you also got a 'viva voce' as an undergraduate if your BSc is borderline between two grades. I received one and yes, I got the lower grade.
- stordoff 9y ago
  It's not strictly limited to just PhDs - at my university, I was required to take one for a year-end undergraduate project.
jrq 9y ago
So then amateur mathematician is a bit misleading? It sounds like this guy is a marvelous person at whatever he does. How can he be an amateur ANYTHING but have a PhD?
- Eldandan 9y ago
  I think amateur in this case refers to non-professional / research mathematician with a PhD working at a University or a Research Institute. You still need to have some serious math chops to get this kind of result, it just isn't reflected in your official title or degree.
  - userbinator 9y ago
    "Independent" might be a better adjective for someone like that.
    - Jtsummers 9y ago
      If you're not doing it for profit, you're an amateur. Independent would suggest he could still doing math professionally but on a contract or otherwise unaffiliated basis.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
        Hmm, that is a definition of amateur; just as "professional" can mean you make a living from it. However amateur often means - in British English - simply "low skilled" as professional can mean "formally carried out with high competence".
- truculation 9y ago
  IIRC this guy or his associates dug up soil from a medieval burial site near Cambridge (England) to try and find a bacterial enzyme capable of breaking down 7-ketocholesterol (and hence potentially to cure artherosclerosis). Maybe not Indiana Jones but certainly ingenius and intrepid!
adw 9y ago
The way a Cambridge PhD works, I believe – and I think this is the same across the UK – is that the only things you actually have to do are; a) write a thesis b) find examiners (internal and external) who agree to examine you; if you're a grad student this is your advisor's job. The examination is by thesis review followed by pass/pass-with-corrections/fail oral exam. It can take as long as it needs to (typically three to four hours), and is in private; it's not like public defenses elsewhere, which are for show, this is a real live-fire exam and I know people who have failed c) pass d) ... that's it; there is no part d) In particular, there are no quals or other requirements; the degree is an old-school medieval masterwork deal. You submit your thesis and get examined on it. Typically you write your thesis through an apprenticeship to your advisor, but that's not actually required, it's just conventional; in Aubrey's case, the thesis was the book and the research proceeded by unusual means over a long period of time. Nevertheless, he got examined in the same way everyone else does, he passed like everyone else did, so he has his PhD. (source: my own memory, I know Aubrey and have worked with him on a couple of non-science things fifteen years ago, and I got my PhD from Cambridge through the traditional route of being a grad student – thesis at https://aspace.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/218854?show=full https://aspace.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/218854?show=...)
- gowld 9y ago
  It was only slightly unusual. de Gray got an undergrad (computer science) degree from Cambridge and married a Cambridge biologist and then worked at a biology-computing lab while writing the book. With the professor and the lab (and the upper class boarding school and multimillionaire mother), the only thing missing was a formal admission to the PhD program.
- jamessb 9y ago
  If you are seeking the Ph.D. Degree under the normal regulations, you are required to have "kept three terms at least by residence" (i.e. have lived within three miles of Great St. Mary's Church for a year) [1]. There is also a minimum time of 9 terms (ie. 3 years) that must be spent as a Graudate Student [2]. The alternative 'special regulations' apply only to graduates of the Cambridge University, or graduates of another university who have been admitted "to some office in the University or to a Headship or a Fellowship of a College" [3]. > d) ... that's it; there is no part d) Well, the most likely outcome of the viva is a pass with minor corrections, so there typically is a part d - "make the corrections requested by the examiners and re-submit". [1]: https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter02-section9.html#xref-A-4137-1 https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter02-section9.... [2]: https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13.html#heading1-13 https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13... [3]: https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13.html#heading2-54 https://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/so/2017/chapter07-section13...
btcindivist 9y ago
I'm not sure. Given that he was in a relationship with a professor there, he might have got an easy pass.

HiroshiSan 9y ago

Gotta downplay his achievements to fit the narrative of the 'prodigy'.

8bitsrule 9y ago
Another such word: 'fringe'
- ramesh92 9y ago
  scadfdgf
sd90909 9y ago
What do you mean? How is it downplaying?
- HiroshiSan 9y ago
  Downplaying in the sense that it's god given and not sweat equity.

dabockster 9y ago

> He's also Thiel backed. Is having Thiel's association a positive thing still? Serious question.

glibgil 9y ago
Given Thiel's interest in longevity, yes
- grkvlt 9y ago
  Oh great; an immortal Peter Thiel, just what the world needs...!
bhasi 9y ago
Oh, I thought the implication was the other way around, something to do with Thiel's political leanings. My bad.
nontechdude1 9y ago
from a political perspective, no. if you care about actual technological accomplishments, as a technologist, peter thiel's endorsement should matter a lot.
jimmy1 9y ago
Absolutely, especially depending on our audience. To your typical SJW crowd, probably not. To everyone else, yes.
toren 9y ago
I would assume so. I couldn't care less about his political affiliations
- billhendricksjr 9y ago
  His political affiliations are in conflict with his desire for long life, given who has the nuclear football. I don’t care, I’m an atheist with no kids who’d be bored out of my mind before I hit 300 years old, much less 1,000.