Lateral influence

14 Replies

Gamburd

My attention has been drawn to the video of Alex Gamburd’s recent talk at the IHP on his joint work with Jean Bourgain and Peter Sarnak.  If I had been in town for the workshop, I would probably have attended, in which case I would have been struck, as have many of our colleagues, by Alex’s couture.  Cédric Villani was not in attendance, but the inevitable comparison to the Lady Gaga of mathematics has been recorded.  Is Alex the Bryan Ferry of mathematics?  Still too many lead singers, not enough of a rhythm section.

14 thoughts on “Lateral influence”

  2. Martin Krieger

    Not everyone need dress like Dennis Gaitsgory, in a black T-shirt. I don’t think the suit and hand-tied bowtie is a version of Villani. Notice the fashionable suspenders, with the white part in the back, and the white connectors to the buttons on the trousers. This is just formal dress, and having the proper suspenders and a hand-tied bowtie is de rigeur.

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    1. mathematicswithoutapologies Post author

      On the other hand,

      Comme la pomme de Newton ou le bain d’Archimède, la formule qui permet de calculer la somme des termes (les nombres successifs qui composent une suite) a sa petite légende. C’est Carl Friedrich Gauss, le Mozart des Maths, qui a trouvé cette méthode de calcul. Une petite anecdote, citée dans l’éloge funèbre de Wolfgang Sartorius (un géologue allemand), est à l’origine de ce qui est vraisemblablement un mythe:

      http://sweetrandomscience.blogspot.fr/2012/11/les-mathematiques-des-carres-magiques.html

      or

      https://books.google.fr/books?id=cZe_oEbEedoC&pg=PR8&lpg=PR8&dq=le+mozart+des+maths&source=bl&ots=Xvy-7UXfmj&sig=3MCzXYbBdsXQXYeEow1pOCagYWo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Ax2SVZWGAcPTU–NkIgC&ved=0CGAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=le%20mozart%20des%20maths&f=false

      or

      http://bertdo.over-blog.net/article-12186454.html

      or

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/04/09/DI2007040900282.html

      or

      http://www.ug.ru/archive/41438

      or

      https://books.google.fr/books?id=g6AVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=%22the+mozart+of+mathematics%22&source=bl&ots=IUY0lR2FkL&sig=xFnWmMdRJ5o5HaC-HmHJQGXF4GE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Xh6SVaf8GMeuU7ryj8gH&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20mozart%20of%20mathematics%22&f=false

      or

      http://www.syntropia.de/jnos-bolyai-mozart-mathematik-p-703.html

      or

      http://blogacienciacierta.blogspot.fr/2007/11/ramanujan-el-mozart-de-las-matemticas.html

      or

      http://errataseminentes.blogspot.fr/2006/01/paul-erds.html

      What a band! But we’re still waiting for that drummer!

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  4. Jon Awbrey

    I’ve been trying decide whether the middle term between lateral influence and lateral inhibition is lateral anxiety or whether it’s skew or maybe transversal.

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  5. Kåre Schou Gjaldbæk

    There is nothing not to love about Alex Gamburd’s style. I think the Brian Ferry comparison is off, though – certainly the Cédric Villani. I’ve always thought of him as the Dr. Who of math. In fact, it is entirely possible that he IS The Doctor.

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  7. Pingback: Performing truth | Mathematics without Apologies, by Michael Harris

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