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I'm amazed by the observation that even the Deputy Director, a seasoned theoretician, did not expect to understand a peer researcher's work without several mont
by ovi256 7y ago
I'm amazed by the observation that even the Deputy Director, a seasoned theoretician, did not expect to understand a peer researcher's work without several months of collaboration. What chance does a mere undergrad or practitioner stand ! :)
- pas 7y agoBasically the same :) Usually, after a certain level math problems become very narrow, and a small subfield develops around them. They are "easy" to get into, to catch up, read the important papers, sketch out the proofs for yourself, get a feel for the concepts and for the conjectures that lurk among them. And usually that's it. Usually a few folks of that very particular topic/field have some ideas that they are working on, usually for at least a year, they try to formalize them, conceptualize them, communicate them, and naturally to prove them. And sometimes draft/working papers are all we get. Sometimes someone becomes a "household" name after many persistent years like Wiles.