5 ms·
Around 6 or 7 years ago, I went to a quantum computing conference and presented about a then newly developed quantum programming language that could run on a re
by reikonomusha 5y ago
Around 6 or 7 years ago, I went to a quantum computing conference and presented about a then newly developed quantum programming language that could run on a real quantum computer, showing a 1/2 decent simulation of dihydrogen energy in terms of bond length.
I authored a paper about this quantum programming language but had no way to post it to the arXiv. I'm not a traditional academic, but I had posted on the arXiv before, long ago, at a previous job. Problem was that my arXiv credentials were associated with that job's long lost email.
I gave the presentation in a giant ballroom, and afterward, sat down at my assigned spot at one of these large circular tables. Next to me, during a brief coffee break, an old man I didn't recognize told me my talk was very interesting, and asked me if my paper was published yet. "Not yet; we haven't chosen a journal. And posting to the arXiv is delayed, because my account is locked, so a colleague is planning to post on my behalf."
The man responds, "Oh, it should be possible to fix that." I said that I figured as much and have just procrastinated contacting the admins. "They're at Cornell right?"
He said, "No, I mean, I can fix that. You said your name was Reikon Musha right?"
He opens his clunky laptop and continues, "I'm not supposed to do this. But I'm certain that if you gave an invited talk here, you're definitely not spoofing your name. Maybe you can show me your ID? No, no, just kidding."
He continues clicking around. "Was xyz@example.com your old address? What's your new one?" I answered yes, and gave him my new address. He typed it in and said, "straight into the database it goes; just go and reset your password now."
I was absolutely puzzled. I said, "Thanks?? Who are you?"
He says, as a matter of fact, "I'm Paul, I invented the arXiv."
- Rebelgecko 5y agoHow does he (or people in general) pronounce arxiv?
- reikonomusha 5y agoLike "archive". The X represents the Greek letter χ. Similar to TeX or LaTeX, which are pronounced like "tech" and "lay-tech".
- Uehreka 5y agoWith arXiv I mind less for some reason, but I pronounce TeX and LaTeX as teks and lay-teks because: - That’s how I pronounced them when I first read them. - That’s how everyone else pronounces them when they first read them until someone who has heard this factoid corrects them. - They look exactly like commonly-used English words. - It feels like a dumb prank to take the name of a writing system, whose sole purpose is written word and which will be most discussed in written media, and give it a deliberately odd pronunciation that people don’t usually discover until they talk to someone about it. I’m grateful to the legendary folks who built these things, but I still wish they would’ve honored the Least Surprise Principle and picked better names.
- Jiro 5y agoNot to say I disagree with you at all, but everything you say here applies to GNU.... (Well, maybe it's not so common a word, but it's still a written word for something that you're supposed to pronounce it unlike the English word it resembles.)
- Uehreka 5y agoI pronounce it gah-noo or G.N.U. arbitrarily, but I assumed it was just like “sequel” and S.Q.L. where everyone just pronounces it both ways.
- anticensor 5y agoSEQUEL is actually the precursor of SQL :)
- quickthrower2 5y agoHe not only fixed, but was careful in his conversation to give you the best possible anecdote.
- reikonomusha 5y agoHaha, exactly. I know a lot of these kinds of anecdotes are hammed up for entertainment, but the conversation was quite literally as written (modulo the inaccuracies of my memory).
- cormacrelf 5y agoYou can now add, “And that man’s award’s name? Albert Einstein”
- mromanuk 5y agoI laughed at your comment. On point.
- adrian_mrd 5y agoNice anecdote, thanks for sharing :)
- EvgeniyZh 5y agoNow this thread is first Google result for your name
- antihero 5y agoSo what you're saying is you can pwn literally any arXiv account by giving a convincing enough presentation on a highly specialised scientific field at a conference that Paul is attending? Pah, what sort of security do you call that?!
- Shared404 5y agoIf you can both get invited under a fake name and show interesting enough research that Paul seeks you out I suppose. I think the first part would be rather difficult, probably more so than pwning a server.
- hiddencost 5y agoParent is joking
- Shared404 5y agoWell, that'll teach me not to HN right after waking up. Or won't. But it should :P
- nefitty 5y agoI've always said that the neurobiology of sarcasm is woefully understudied
- toomuchtodo 5y agoHN pre-coffee: read only. HN post-coffee: writes enabled. :)
- rolandog 5y agoAlso, you can comment as a caffeinated user by prefixing with cudo.
- tomcam 5y agoI’m glad you were the one to break the news
- EricLeer 5y agoWhat an interesting story! I was wondering if you where you also working in the quantum computing field back then, or if you just worked on this as a hobby. 6 years ago the entire quantum computing field was not hyped as much yet (this was just about when the ibm quantum experience started?).
- reikonomusha 5y agoYes, I was working in the field, not as a hobby. The programming language and compiler research certainly preceded IBM's foray into publicizing "cloud quantum", but I think they had just come out with a primitive version of their Quantum Experience by the time we gave that talk. This was definitely before the public hype set full sail—but it was clearly beginning to simmer. Everything was really research-oriented then, but it's, as you observe, around the time companies began to open up a bit more. (This is completely ignoring DWave, a whole different story. This also ignores physics-academia, which on the other hand had all sorts of hype, all of which eventually bled into the public arena, from Majorana qubits to chemical simulation.) As a personal aside, I miss those days when things were just so much quieter, heads-down, and collegial. It's difficult to describe how the research and commercial environment has changed for its participants over the last decade.
- ajkjk 5y agoIt was definitely very hype within academia long before that, even if you weren't hearing much about it in mainstream news yet.
- nikcub 5y agoThis is why I love HN
- Yajirobe 5y agoand everybody clapped
- 5faulker 5y agoThis is a great story.