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Swedish Mathematician Lennart Carleson Wins Abel

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the under-recognized-fields-of-study dept.

William Robinson writes "Sci Tech is reporting that Swedish mathematician Lennart Carleson has won the Abel Prize on Thursday for proving a 19th century theorem on harmonic analysis. His theorems have been helpful in creating iPod. Prof Carleson's major contributions have come in two fields - the first has subsequently been used in the components of sound systems and the second helps to predict how markets and weather systems respond to change. One of Carleson's many triumphs was settling a conjecture that had remained unsolved for over 150 years. He showed that every continuous function (one with a connected graph) is equal to the sum of its Fourier series except perhaps at some negligible points."

5 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Except at some negible points? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My math prof used to shoot chalk pieces onto me for saying something like that!

    That's when I decided that statistics is more my kinda speed.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  2. negligible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "He showed that every continuous function (one with a connected graph) is equal to the sum of its Fourier series except perhaps at some negligible points."

    Negligible? In engineering, maybe. In mathematics, never.

  3. iPod? by liangzai · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, it might be that the MPEG-4/AAC/H.264 algorithms are based in part on Fourier analysis, but I fail to understand how Carleson's theorems have been used in making the iPod. Cupertino is hardly knowledgable in the more esoteric realms of theoretical mathematics, and there is simply no need to incorporate such stuff in an mp4 player.

    This is bad journalism, written by bad reporters who lack the most basic understanding of mathematics and engineering. He just thought it might be cool to clam in an iPod in the mess.

  4. Re:iPod? by glesga_kiss · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I fail to understand how Carleson's theorems have been used in making the iPod.

    The iPod reference got this story greenlighted on slashdot. Otherwise it might not have made it. If you want to guarantee acceptance, mention something bad about M$, something good about Linux, or anything about Apple (preferably good, but there is the odd flame article).

    This advice was brought to you by someone with a 100% submission record. (ok, one of one ;-)

  5. Re:iPod? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    You're probably one of those guys that also says that people aren't interested in science anymore. I think that associating his work with the iPod, even if vaguely fraudulent, is a useful helper in placing the work of many mathematicians into context.

    Not only that, I think it's a goodwill gesture borne out of tremendous respect for the work these guys do. Now, I know my share of really cool people that could never have gotten higher educations because of whatever reason, and somehow, they sometimes feel leftout of the intellectual development of their times. This allows them to be informed and understand that some people spend 10-20 years of their life working on math stuff and that's how it gets used in the real world.

    Now call me naive, but I think they understand better than you do the contribution of this guy to the world and they also understand that there is simply no way you can technically dumb down the theory so that they could understand some of it. Last time they tried, it was for Relativity and that is already 100 years old. I think they understand how this guy's contribution will ultimately be used by millions of people, which is insanely great!