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> Mathematicians, a different breed entirely, had Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss who kept going until a very old age, for their times—76 and 77—despite
by flobosg 5y ago
> Mathematicians, a different breed entirely, had Leonhard Euler and Carl Friedrich Gauss who kept going until a very old age, for their times—76 and 77—despite starting very early, as mathematicians seem to do. This is not a universal trend: in the twentieth century, David Hilbert at 81 and André Weil at 92 are the only exemplars that come to mind.
What about Paul Erdős?
- Qem 5y agoNice point. I think they still started very young. I wonder if there are examples of late bloomer mathematicians, that did great work despite not learning any advanced maths before their 30s or 40s.
- Penyngton 5y agoRichard Guy said that he "began to think of [himself] as possibly being something of a research mathematician" after meeting Erdos in his 40s, although he did get degrees in mathematics when he was younger. He went on to publish over a hundred research papers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_K._Guy#Mathematics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_K._Guy#Mathematics Raymond Smullyan got his BSc in his late 30s and went on to write highly acclaimed textbooks and teach at universities, although I'm not exactly sure about his research accomplishments: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Smullyan EDIT: see also this list https://mathoverflow.net/questions/3591/mathematicians-who-were-late-learners-list https://mathoverflow.net/questions/3591/mathematicians-who-w...
- flobosg 5y agoCheck out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_bloomer#Mathematics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_bloomer#Mathematics
- mightykipper 5y agoOr Roger Penrose. Don't know if he's still publishing but he's 90 now and he had papers published in 2011, which must count him as old. The author also seems to forget recently departed physics genius Steven Hawking, still working until his death at 76 afaik.