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The famously outperforming fund at Renaissance (Medallion) does not take outside money, and Renaissance itself is a privately held company, so there's not much

The famously outperforming fund at Renaissance (Medallion) does not take outside money, and Renaissance itself is a privately held company, so there's not much need to cultivate such a cult. Honestly, I don't really get your perspective. Simons legitimately was one of the best mathematicians in the world and was sacked from the NSA. This isn't some Musk-esque 'I sleep on the factory floor and sign off on everything despite lacking the bona-fides' nonsense, he was 40 before entering the investment industry and before that won top research prizes, published quality research and ran a math department.

wolverine876 5y ago
Yes, but who cares? Why is that important? > ran a math department OT, based on what university faculty have told me, so maybe not true everywhere: chairing a department is a thankless political nightmare. It's foisted on people who can't say no; it isn't an honor.
- carnitine 5y ago
  Because people are trying to work out what his incredibly secretive hedge fund could be up to? His past is one of the few ways of getting any kind of hint.
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    What does that have to do with the Vietnam stance?
- auntienomen 5y ago
  Simon's chairmanship of the Stony Brook math department is an interesting case. He was hired from outside the department to be the chair, rather than 'promoted' internally because he was the last to touch his nose. Stony Brook was a bit of a backwater at the time, but they were willing to spend resources building up a first rate math department. Simons was brought in, in essence, because he had the connections needed to recruit senior and well-respected mathematicians to come to Stony Brook.
  - wolverine876 5y ago
    Again, so what? Why does everyone know about this person's history at the Stony Brook math department?
    - auntienomen 5y ago
      What's interesting about Simons and RenTec is that a _lot_ the people involved are genuinely first rate scientists. And I don't mean econ Nobel laureates, like at LTCM, I mean the kind of people who'd have joined the Manhattan project 50 years earlier. That fact, together with the quality of Medallion's returns, makes people wonder if they really found something. FWIW, I don't believe this myself. But that's where the interest comes from.

wolverine876 5y ago

Yes, but who cares? Why is that important? > ran a math department OT, based on what university faculty have told me, so maybe not true everywhere: chairing a department is a thankless political nightmare. It's foisted on people who can't say no; it isn't an honor.

carnitine 5y ago
Because people are trying to work out what his incredibly secretive hedge fund could be up to? His past is one of the few ways of getting any kind of hint.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  What does that have to do with the Vietnam stance?
auntienomen 5y ago
Simon's chairmanship of the Stony Brook math department is an interesting case. He was hired from outside the department to be the chair, rather than 'promoted' internally because he was the last to touch his nose. Stony Brook was a bit of a backwater at the time, but they were willing to spend resources building up a first rate math department. Simons was brought in, in essence, because he had the connections needed to recruit senior and well-respected mathematicians to come to Stony Brook.
- wolverine876 5y ago
  Again, so what? Why does everyone know about this person's history at the Stony Brook math department?
  - auntienomen 5y ago
    What's interesting about Simons and RenTec is that a _lot_ the people involved are genuinely first rate scientists. And I don't mean econ Nobel laureates, like at LTCM, I mean the kind of people who'd have joined the Manhattan project 50 years earlier. That fact, together with the quality of Medallion's returns, makes people wonder if they really found something. FWIW, I don't believe this myself. But that's where the interest comes from.