Slashdot Mirror
Mathematician Claims New Yorker Defamed Him
An anonymous reader writes, "Last month the New Yorker ran the article 'Manifold Destiny' (slashdotted here), by Sylvia Nasar, author of 'A Beautiful Mind.' Now a renowned Harvard mathematics professor, Dr. Shing-Tung Yau, is claiming the article defamed him. His attorney wrote the New Yorker a letter (PDF) threatening that Yau will have 'no choice but to consider other options' if Nasar, her co-author, and the New Yorker fail to undo the damage done."
Doesn't this prove the article's point?
The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination
- Douglas Adams
Hell hath no fury like an academic with his reputation scorned.
ian
While I dont even begin to understand the math it looks a little more murky than blatantly just trying to steal Perelmans credit. No one seems to have found significant error in Perelmans work but also no one seems to understand completely how he actually arrived at his solution. Now I remember from my math class that if you could not show how you arrived at your answer it was treated as a guess and thrown out.
I am not saying Perelman did not solve the conjecture but his approach to publishing his work in a piecemeal and incomplete manner was a poor choice and left him wide open to what has happened (note he does come across as somewhat eccentric in the article). Yau does appear to be filling in gaps though after someone else did all the grunt work for him so while he has completed the work by doing so he has proved that Perelman was in fact correct.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Who cares? Some professor of Math gets his knickers in a twist because he's been outted as a self-aggrandizing, self-important weasel by his peers, only confirming his peers' extimation of him, and this is important? Somebody get this guy some Xanax and a legal dictionary then send him off to some nice, quiet, restful place where he can contemplate geometry and leave the rest of us alone.
GetOuttaMySpace - The Anti-Social Network
I think he is FULLY aware of that.
Finding other idiots on
When you speak negatively about someone, however true it may be, how likely are you to confess to it when asked by that person (or his reps) whether it was true. Human nature being what it is.
I've read all the posts up to now, and most are overlooking what I think is an important fact.
The Clay Institute has put up a bounty of one million US dollars for a proof of this conjecture.
There seems to be a good chance that Perelman will decline it (or his share of it), given his behavior.
This may be a factor in Yau's rush to get a share of the credit. He's famous enough that he doesn't really need to do this to improve reputation.
Why cant we all get along
Because there is more money to be made in not getting along.
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.
Edward Everett (1794 - 1865)
This isn't the first time that he's used failure to understand portions of proofs to piggyback on others by collaborating to fill non-holes in proofs.
Part of this is due to the obscenely political state of modern mathematics. Part of it is the silly amount of credit given to people willing to do the grunt work of filling out proofs, even though it's important. Still, a great deal of this has to be put on Yau and his strong-arm, slap-dash tactics. It doesn't help that the accusation of the portrayal of a racial stereotype is contained within fulfillment of the accused behavior, but Nasar never said that Chinese mathematicians are dirty, cheating bastards. She said that Yau is.
Yau's press-release shows how much he believes he represents Chinese mathematics. A statement disparaging Yau does the same for Chinese mathematicians?
Please.
There's nothing racial about someone spending the latter half of his life manipulating a broken system when his actual intellect is insufficient.
IANAL, and it is a felony to practice law without a license here in California. Further, I only know about American defamation law, having been involved in it professionally, and am aware that things are quite different in Great Britain. However, for an American, this letter lays out a necessary but not sufficient argument and basis. I am not discussing the underlying Mathematics, but merely the legal requirements for libel and/or slander.
To win a defamation suit, 3 things must be proved:
(1) The publication is false, or made with a reckless disregard for the truth;
(2) The false or reckless statements are taken as fact, not mere opinion, by at least one member of the audience;
(3) Actual damages have taken place as a result.
The first two are made plausible, although perhaps fall short of compelling.
No actual damages are even outlined. That is, nowhere is the contention established that, for instance, Dr. Yau was to have been given a job, award (as opposed to a second Fields medal for which he is not eligible, by age), book contract, or the like, BUT for the New Yorker article.
That is, Yau's feelings might be hurt, but that is not for the courts to adjudicate. Without damages, there is no tort, and nothing for the legal system to make him whole (i.e. award him some money).
There are exceptions and exceptions to the exceptions if Dr. Yau is as a matter of fact a Public Figure.
Professor Jonathan Vos Post
ex-Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, Woodbury University
ex-Adjunct Professor of Astronomy, Cypress College