Atiyah and Singer to Share the 2004 Abel Prize

sbar writes "The 2004 Abel prize-winners have been announced.From the website: 'The Atiyah-Singer index theorem is one of the great landmarks of twentieth century mathematics, influencing profoundly many of the most important later developments in topology, differential geometry and quantum field theory. Its authors, both jointly and individually, have been instrumental in repairing a rift between the worlds of pure mathematics and theoretical particle physics, initiating a cross-fertilization which has been one of the most exciting developments of the last decades.'"

Comments

It's the use of language

[Moderation abuser]

The new tower of Babel.

Different professions find that the language is not up to the task of quickly and concisely describing what they do, so they re-use words giving them new meanings, invent new ones and in the process make it difficult for the layman to understand WTF they are talking about. Sometimes deliberately but more often simply due to convenience.

In order to even have a chance of understanding, you'd have to know the meanings of the underlying language, otherwise it's just babble.

It's worth noting that IT professionals are particularly guilty of the practice.