Jim Simons: A Short Story of My Life and Mathematics (2022)
The Abel Prize・10 minutes read
The speaker's early passion for math led to significant contributions in differential geometry and minimal surfaces in various dimensions, eventually developing a theory adopted in physics. Transitioning to investments, he founded a successful hedge fund, enabling philanthropic efforts towards science and education.
Insights
- Early fascination with math led to a focus on differential geometry, particularly minimal surfaces, culminating in groundbreaking work up to seven dimensions.
- Collaboration with Chern resulted in a theory spanning all dimensions, eventually shaping physics as Chern-Simons Theory, followed by a transition to successful hedge fund management enabling philanthropic ventures in science and education.
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Recent questions
What did the speaker study at MIT?
Math
Where did the speaker work on a problem in minimal surfaces?
Berkeley
What theory did the speaker develop with Chern?
Chern-Simons Theory
What did the speaker focus on at the Institute for Defense Analysis?
Higher-dimensional minimal surfaces
Where did the speaker become the chair of the math department?
Stony Brook University
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Summary
00:00
Mathematical Prodigy: From Geometry to Philanthropy
- The speaker recounts his early fascination with math, particularly doubling numbers up to 1024 as a child.
- He pursued math at MIT, focusing on differential geometry, a study of curved spaces with metrics.
- Moving to Berkeley, he worked on a problem in minimal surfaces, intrigued by their minimal area with respect to boundaries.
- At the Institute for Defense Analysis, he delved into higher-dimensional minimal surfaces, solving it up to dimension seven.
- He later became the chair of the math department at Stony Brook University, funded by Governor Rockefeller, and made significant contributions to math in three dimensions.
- Collaborating with Chern, he developed a theory applicable to all dimensions, later adopted in physics as Chern-Simons Theory.
- Transitioning to investments, he founded a successful hedge fund, leading to philanthropic endeavors through a foundation focused on science and education.
