Yet another award for Ed Witten

[sjastro]

Hailed as Einstein's successor and the only theoretical physicist to have won pure mathematics version of the Nobel prize.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/43054

Regards

Steven

[Robh (Rob)]

Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
A brilliant physicist and commanding mathematician.
Sir Michael Atiyah said of Witten, "Although he is definitely a physicist, his command of mathematics is rivaled by few mathematicians... Time and again he has surprised the mathematical community by a brilliant application of physical insight leading to new and deep mathematical theorems..." (sourced from wikipedia).

Regards, Rob.

[renormalised (Carl)]

Yes, brilliant in all respects.

In any case, a brilliant physicist should also be good at maths...this compartmentalsation of science and this "us" and "them" attitude makes me laugh at times. The fact that he can "surprise" the maths community is just another signpost of just how insular the knowledge on this planet has become. It looks more like a priesthood/religion than anything else.

[Jarvamundo (Alex)]

Originally Posted by renormalised

In any case, a brilliant physicist should also be good at maths...

Yet some of the greatest only had algebra down, and discovered nature beyond any other... Michael Faraday... "There's no cheating in algebra"

Maths aids in measurements of empirical (real) physics... (used to be called natural philosophy)

Theoretical physics (oxymoron) is another ball game tho... this guy is a mathematical multi-dimensional genius...

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by Jarvamundo

Yet some of the greatest only had algebra down, and discovered nature beyond any other... Michael Faraday... "There's no cheating in algebra"

Maths aids in measurements of empirical (real) physics... (used to be called natural philosophy)

Theoretical physics (oxymoron) is another ball game tho... this guy is a mathematical multi-dimensional genius...

And to think, we nearly lost him to Economics!!!!

[sjastro]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Yes, brilliant in all respects.

In any case, a brilliant physicist should also be good at maths...this compartmentalsation of science and this "us" and "them" attitude makes me laugh at times. The fact that he can "surprise" the maths community is just another signpost of just how insular the knowledge on this planet has become. It looks more like a priesthood/religion than anything else.

A brilliant physicist is good at applying mathematics. It's extremely rare for a physicist to create new mathematics. Witten is an exception to the rule. Newton is another example although the distinction between physics and mathematics in his time was blurred.


Mathematicians on the other hand have done well, winning the Nobel prize in various fields.

• 1950: Bertrand Russell (literature)
• 1954: Max Born, Walther Bothe (physics)
• 1972: Kenneth Arrow (economics)
• 1994: John Forbes Nash (economics)
• 2003: Clive W. J. Granger (economics)
• 2005: Robert J. Autmann, Thomas C. Schelling (economics)

Regards

Steven