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Peter Lax wins Abel Prize
otisaardvark writes "The prestigious Abel Prize, awarded annually for lifetime contributions to mathematics, has been awarded to Peter Lax [pdf]. Professor Lax, born in Hungary and currently at New York University, has made profound contributions to the theory of partial differential equations, most famously his reformulation of a large class of important PDES (so-called "integrable systems") in terms of Lax pairs of coupled, simplified equations. Read a summary of his achievements here [pdf]."
Mathematics in the last 100 or so years (if not more!) has become almost completely irrelevant. By in large, mathematicians work in theory that is so far removed from anything even remotely applicable to worldy endeavors that the mathematician's work is all but worthless. PDEs may be somewhat of an exception to this. . . .
Show me one lay person who gives a damn--or even remotely knows--about what ANY mathematician does. Mathematics may be the "language of nature" or the "universal language", but the endeavors that mathematicians have chosen to explore in recent history are worthwhile only in the minds of the mathematicians. And this really is the key: just like in any area of reseach, the irrelevance of the field rests completely on the shoulders of those who form the questions. Mathematics isn't irrelevant, but mathematicians have chosen to make it so by largely answering questions that no one cares to ask.
So is this the direction math is going now, to obscure concepts few people have practical application for. This is why over the last couple of years there has been a decline in people majoring in math because it is boring. And on top of it there is no real incentive at best they can get some prize few people(in the general populace) have ever heard of.
The Abel prize was introduced as a sort of "Nobel Prize of math" where people are rewarded for results and achievements that have shown themselves to be of lasting value in the field. Alfred Nobel did not want a Nobel Prize in math since he himself saw little scientific value of math! The most prestigious prize in math before the Abel came into being is the Fields medal, but this prize is only given to younger mathematicians (belove the age of 40) that has made break-through results and show promise for the future. The Fields medal is handed out every 4 years while the Abel is handed out every year (first prize was handed out in 2003).
It would have been ironic for Abel if he were to know that such a huge money prize is to be given out in his name, when his whole life he had to live in poverty and fight to get time and money to do his scientific work. The irony of Abel's life is also that Abel himself finally got a professorship in Berlin; but too late, the letter was sent to him two days after his death.
--- guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people ---
Question is, how much longer are they going to hold the award from Andrew Wiles of Fermat fame?
Isn't there enough math classes already? :P
Math is one of the few classes where you can learn something truly beautiful that is also useful. Few classes are more useful in day to day life. (reading, perhaps grammar)
Find a good math instructor. In grade school and somewhat in high school, teachers are people who hate math, and so they are unwilling to show you just how much fun it really is.
Why is this posted on Slashdot Science? Although a very important branch of human knowledge, matehematics is not a science because it does not use the scientific method. Scientific method is based on asking nature questions (through observation or experimentation)and building theories which explain nature's answers. Based on theories new experiments are suggested, which lead to new theories etc. Since mathematics DOES NOT STUDY nature, such a cycle does not exist in mathematics. Mathematical theories are not built in order to explain natural phenomena. Mathematicians just explore the logical implications of various sets oh non-contradictory hypotheses, this is all. They do not suggest or make experiments, they do not confront their results with experiments or observations.
Medicine is is not a science for a different reason. Its purpose is not understanding nature or acquiring knowledge but healing people. A healing method is accepted by the medical community whether there is a scientific explanation for it or not. Understanting the way a healing method works is irrelevant as long as it works and it does not do collateral damage. In a sense medicine is some kind of engineering. Both medicine and engineering use science and scientific method at times, although they are not sciences themselves.
I am a theoretical physicist myself and I use mathematics every day. However I am always surprised when I hear people calling mathematics, engineering or medicine sciences. Physics, chemistry, biology, geology and even economics are sciences. Mathematics, engineering and medicine ARE NOT SCIENCES.
, because most of his research is relevant to physics. This does not change the fact that mathematics, even applied mathematics is not a science.
There was a great theoretical physicist, named Melvin Lax, with important contributions in classical and quantum noise, nonlinear and statistical optics, nonequilibrium statistical mechanics etc. His papers on noise published in 1960 in Rev Mod Phys are citation classics, with almost 10^4 citations. Is Peter Lax related in any way to Melvin Lax?
Your post is patently ridiculous. First of all, every succesful scientific theory ever has had a foundation built from mathematics (in the hard sciences anyway -- biology and the like are excluded from this claim). Without the work of mathematicians, physics would be nigh impossible.
You also make the claim that medicine is not a science because "understanding the way a healing method works is irrelevant." This statement is not only untrue (if you want to achieve better healing methods than herbal remedies), but also it implies that physicists understand why the universe is the way it is, which they do not. Physicists are quite good at explaining how natural phenomena occur, but there really isn't a good explanation for say, why gravity exists or why inertial mass and gravitational mass are (or appear to be) the same. Physics is simply a model of reality based upon observation, logic, and induction, and any one of which may or may not be correct in the first place.
Finally, (and I do take this a little personally) you make a similar claim for engineering as you do medicine. Do you mean to imply that, say, aerospace engineering (rocket science, if you will) is not science? If you are trying to tell me that the men who put Neil Armstrong on the Moon did not understand why their spacecraft worked, you are either mentally handicapped or an elitist snob. The same can be said of the other engineering disciplines as well--you just seem to lack experience with them.
It is gratifying to witness Slashdot occasionally returning to its autistic roots. Although in recent years the slogan of "News for Nerds," has become more and more undeserved, this particular story belongs squarely in the Nerd category.
/.'s editors are still willing to post this type of material. It's quintessential old-school Slashdot stuff.
Although this specific story is not one which I care about, it is in the general category shared by other stories which I very often definitely DO care about...and so it's good to know that
[ ] You understand what the "scientific method" is.
[X] You are easily offended.
Meme of the day: I browse "Disable Sigs: Checked". So should you.
If one instead define science to be the study of whatever can be studiet, with such scientific methods as falsification and use of Ockhams Razor, then math is provable scientific, as there are parts of math that can only be studied scientifically, because they are beyond proofs. As for engineering: It is a symbiont of science. Asking nature questions today require engineering, and engineering requires science. Thus, engineering is in practice a part of science.
Kim0
He's both a great mathematician and a cool guy...
Boeman is right - Mathematics is NOT a science; to imply otherwise is like saying that 'grammar' is the same as 'literature'. Understanding the Book of Nature (i.e., Physics, Chemistry, Biology) requires that one understand the language in which it is written (Math.), but the language itself and Nature are different entities. Mathematics might be called 'quantitative philosophy'. Note that none of this takes any merit away from (mighty) Mathematics! You are right, of course, to say that 'w/out the work of mathematicians physics would be nigh impossible'. No, aerospace engineering, is NOT science. Aerospace engineering USES science, but it itself is NOT science (I also work in aerospace engineering, BTW). Simply put, Engineering is NOT Science. Science is about understanding Nature. Engineering is about applying the knowledge that comes from Science and using it to produce something useful/profitable. That's the way it is and there is nothing elitist about it. Finally, I totally agree with LuckyStarr - (a) you are easily offended and (b) it seems you do not understand the scientific method. Take a breather, do your homework and don't be so easily offended by the facts...
Sorry, in my first sentence I meant to say that 'Anonymous Coward' (the original poster of this thread) is right, not boeman.