Prime Numbers Get Hitched

Seed Magazine ^ | Feb/Mar 2006 | Marcus du Sautoy

[dhs12345]

Good idea.

Wasn't it Plato who believed that what we create here on earth as humans has a "perfect" counterpart in heaven? Analogous to the existence of prime numbers even if humans don't exist. Or... yes, a tree makes a sound even if no one is there to here it.

[dhs12345]

Makes sense.

And the laws of nature will still exist as well, right?

[dhs12345]

Does it pay as well as industry?

Although, I wonder how well an PhD would do in your typical applied science field. There is a limit. Unless they are working in bleeding edge R&D. However, these types of jobs are rare.

Read an story about a couple of PhD chemists who where unemployed and had difficulty finding work. They removed the PhD from their resumes and found jobs.

[RightWhale]

what we create here on earth as humans has a "perfect" counterpart in heaven

Yeah, pretty much. What we deal with is only ideas based on an ultimate reality we can never know.

[RightWhale]

I don't have a PhD. However, I have observed many who do have PhDs and have noticed that having a PhD and looking for a job is a misapplication of credentials. Holding a PhD is more like winning the lottery. One can and should write one's own ticket. Also, a PhD need not do the work associated with that particular field, but should direct the work. Rather than working in the lab, the PhD should own the lab. Rather than programming the supercomputer, the PhD should own the supercomputer. Rather than designing Mars spacecraft, the PhD should be directing the project. Look at our favorite villains Soros, Savage and
Chomsky: They don't have jobs and they aren't known for the contents of the PhDs. They have the world at their feet, and that is the true use of the PhD.

[Poincare]

You don't know what you're talking about, but to save your ego having been in error. Ciao.

[Radix]

I just love threads such as this one. Thanks.

[AmishDude]

You are welcome to your opinion

...mostly because no one else will have anything to do with it.

[Junior]

Beat me to it.

[dhs12345]

I work in Applied Science, Engineering, where there are no new discoveries. Just applications of existing technologies to produce a widget that can be sold for money. Shouldn't say no new discoveries, because we are creating new things all of the time. However, it is done with known/existing processes and building blocks. Repeatability is key since we will want to build thousands, millions...

Masters is useful in this area. However, a PhD doesn't gain you much unless it is in research for some company like IBM with a goal of developing the next widget or improving upon an existing one.

But those jobs are rare. True, some Engineers have PhDs but that is more of a hindrance than a benefit. And there are other branches of engineering where a PhD might be handy, i.e., DoD or Aerospace.

[Allan]

bookmark

[Tanniker Smith]

Riemann was the mathematician in Göttingen responsible for creating the geometry that would become the foundation for Einstein's great breakthrough. But it wasn't only relativity that his theory would unlock.

Oh, my word! I spent a good part of last summer reading a book about Riemann and trying to decipher what this Riemann hypothesis was and what the heck a zeta function with real part one-half for all non-trivial zeroes meant. I enjoyed the history portions, but couldn't make heads or tails of the rest of it.

Kinda like when I tried to read "Winnie Cooper's" published math proof.

To mathematicians, proving Riemann would be greater than finally nailing down Fermat's Last Theorem.

[litehaus]

"Academics in general are too impressed with themselves."

NOT Nearly as MUCH as journalists!

[Tanniker Smith]

I'm looking forward to the sequel: e

Following by
Phi: the Golden Ratio

[Junior]

I suppose it's the product of the first three primes.

1×2×3=6...

[MortMan]

Wasn't Clinton the 42nd president? He developed his own theory of relativity relevancy.

There, fixed it! ;-P

[Samwise]

I've got my towel!

[azhenfud]

My neighbors are prime numbers. On second thought, they're more like telephone conductors. They're a twisted pair.

[azhenfud]

PhD = Piled high & Deep

[Samwise]

Mathematics is the language of science. IMHO