3 ms·
Not what you're asking, but my ideal phd workflow is to complete an open research problem as a homework assignment, then turn it in as a thesis. "In 1939, a mi
by getpost 5y ago
Not what you're asking, but my ideal phd workflow is to complete an open research problem as a homework assignment, then turn it in as a thesis.
"In 1939, a misunderstanding brought about surprising results. Near the beginning of a class, Professor Neyman wrote two problems on the blackboard. Dantzig arrived late and assumed that they were a homework assignment. According to Dantzig, they "seemed to be a little harder than usual", but a few days later he handed in completed solutions for both problems, still believing that they were an assignment that was overdue.[4][6] Six weeks later, an excited Neyman eagerly told him that the "homework" problems he had solved were two of the most famous unsolved problems in statistics.[2][4] He had prepared one of Dantzig's solutions for publication in a mathematical journal.[7] This story began to spread and was used as a motivational lesson demonstrating the power of positive thinking. Over time, Dantzig's name was removed, and facts were altered, but the basic story persisted in the form of an urban legend and as an introductory scene in the movie Good Will Hunting.[6]
Dantzig recalled in a 1986 interview in the College Mathematics Journal, "A year later, when I began to worry about a thesis topic, Neyman just shrugged and told me to wrap the two problems in a binder and he would accept them as my thesis."[8]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dantzig
- wslh 5y agoThere is a similar story about an Argentinian advanced math competition where Alberto Calderon [1], one of the top Argentinian mathematicians at that time, said that one problem was extremely complex for the competition and later was presented in a basic analysis class in Madrid and solved by one student [2] (translated from Spanish). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Calder%C3%B3n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Calder%C3%B3n [2] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=http://cms.dm.uba.ar/cep/ https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=es&tl=en&u=http://...