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A very interesting cast of underdog characters appears in the article. You’ve got one guy with a relentless spirit to continue with mathematics in is spare tim
by markisus 3y ago
A very interesting cast of underdog characters appears in the article.
You’ve got one guy with a relentless spirit to continue with mathematics in is spare time after being blacklisted from mainstream academia because of antisemitism.
Another is a childhood prodigy, who set the record for the youngest American IMO team member, but got burned out as an adult and went into finance but found his way back through the mentorship of another mathematician.
And a third was a biology major. After graduating, he worked as a baker. But he wanted a career change so he entered a master’s program in math and proved an impressive result.
- dylan604 3y agoSounds like a couple of people decided to take an extended gap year, and then came back more focused and in a better place for the number crunching
- fweimer 3y agoNote that the article refers to Soviet antisemitism: Jews were denied academic jobs, and they couldn't move abroad to work in their field, either. Not really related to mathematics as such (and definitely not about the mathematical community rejecting an antisemite).
- eps 3y ago> they couldn't move abroad to work in their field Nobody could do that, Jews or not.