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Oh, Robert Langlands! I worked on a short film about him, for the Abel Prize ceremony, last March. http://www.abelprize.no/artikkel/vis.html?tid=73176 http://

Oh, Robert Langlands! I worked on a short film about him, for the Abel Prize ceremony, last March. http://www.abelprize.no/artikkel/vis.html?tid=73176 http://www.abelprize.no/artikkel/vis.html?tid=73176

BucketSort 8y ago
This is a charming film! How did you decide to include things like that little bit about him paying for the lectures he had posters of? Or the scene where you were peaking in from outside (which I suppose is a metaphor for the craft of creating character films in the first place).
wenc 8y ago
Nice short film. Langlands was a theory builder as opposed to someone like Erdos who was more interested in solving problems. Theory builders are often admired, but because the endeavor is so broad, very few of them emerge and even fewer are actually successful. I like the part where he said he began to write before he understood everything, and in order to write he had to discover many things, and even had to discover them after he started to write. It underscores the crucial role of writing in discovery. Most writers will tell you they are exploring the space during the writing process. Writing isn't a process of committing what you already know to paper; it's a process of learning what you don't know and or haven't considered. It often leads you down paths you would never expect. (this happens to me with my HN comments too -- I often myself writing a very different comment from the one I set out to write) This is why I think a Ph.D. dissertation should be a continuously evolving collection of notes, and not something you "write-up" in the end after all the work is ostensibly done.
- Koshkin 8y ago
  > as opposed From The Rising Sea: Grothendieck on simplicity and generality by C. McLarty: Grothendieck describes two styles in mathematics. If you think of a theorem to be proved as a nut to be opened, so as to reach “the nourishing flesh protected by the shell”, then the hammer and chisel principle is: “put the cutting edge of the chisel against the shell and strike hard. If needed, begin again at many different points until the shell cracks—and you are satisfied”. He goes on to say: "I can illustrate the second approach with the same image of a nut to be opened. The first analogy that came to my mind is of immersing the nut in some softening liquid, and why not simply water? From time to time you rub so the liquid penetrates better, and otherwise you let time pass. The shell becomes more flexible through weeks and months—when the time is ripe, hand pressure is enough, the shell opens like a perfectly ripened avocado!"
  - JadeNB 8y ago
    Incidentally, I have heard Serre's work described as the exemplar of the hammer-and-chisel approach. (McLarty goes on to say that Bourbaki's work fits in the rising-sea approach, which is surprising to me.)
- c3534l 8y ago
  That's also why I detested the formal, algorithmic writing method you learn in English classes. They always wanted you to turn in an outline before you had even begun your paper. How are you supposed to organize a paper before you even have anything to organize?
- JadeNB 8y ago
  > Langlands was a theory builder as opposed to someone like Erdos who was more interested in solving problems. No 'was' about it, by the way; he's still alive, and (last I heard from him) still working.
siweiz 8y ago
What is the background music you used for this video? Thanks

BucketSort 8y ago

This is a charming film! How did you decide to include things like that little bit about him paying for the lectures he had posters of? Or the scene where you were peaking in from outside (which I suppose is a metaphor for the craft of creating character films in the first place).

wenc 8y ago

Nice short film. Langlands was a theory builder as opposed to someone like Erdos who was more interested in solving problems. Theory builders are often admired, but because the endeavor is so broad, very few of them emerge and even fewer are actually successful. I like the part where he said he began to write before he understood everything, and in order to write he had to discover many things, and even had to discover them after he started to write. It underscores the crucial role of writing in discovery. Most writers will tell you they are exploring the space during the writing process. Writing isn't a process of committing what you already know to paper; it's a process of learning what you don't know and or haven't considered. It often leads you down paths you would never expect. (this happens to me with my HN comments too -- I often myself writing a very different comment from the one I set out to write) This is why I think a Ph.D. dissertation should be a continuously evolving collection of notes, and not something you "write-up" in the end after all the work is ostensibly done.

Koshkin 8y ago
> as opposed From The Rising Sea: Grothendieck on simplicity and generality by C. McLarty: Grothendieck describes two styles in mathematics. If you think of a theorem to be proved as a nut to be opened, so as to reach “the nourishing flesh protected by the shell”, then the hammer and chisel principle is: “put the cutting edge of the chisel against the shell and strike hard. If needed, begin again at many different points until the shell cracks—and you are satisfied”. He goes on to say: "I can illustrate the second approach with the same image of a nut to be opened. The first analogy that came to my mind is of immersing the nut in some softening liquid, and why not simply water? From time to time you rub so the liquid penetrates better, and otherwise you let time pass. The shell becomes more flexible through weeks and months—when the time is ripe, hand pressure is enough, the shell opens like a perfectly ripened avocado!"
- JadeNB 8y ago
  Incidentally, I have heard Serre's work described as the exemplar of the hammer-and-chisel approach. (McLarty goes on to say that Bourbaki's work fits in the rising-sea approach, which is surprising to me.)
c3534l 8y ago
That's also why I detested the formal, algorithmic writing method you learn in English classes. They always wanted you to turn in an outline before you had even begun your paper. How are you supposed to organize a paper before you even have anything to organize?
JadeNB 8y ago
> Langlands was a theory builder as opposed to someone like Erdos who was more interested in solving problems. No 'was' about it, by the way; he's still alive, and (last I heard from him) still working.

siweiz 8y ago

What is the background music you used for this video? Thanks