Word: mathematicians
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What happens from here on out depends on the kind of technological advances that are always hard to predict. About the same time that Schrodinger unleashed his quantum cat, the British mathematician Alan Turing was sketching out the theory of the modern digital computer. A decade later, during World War II, Turing was helping program Colossus, a room-size electronic calculating machine that used 1,800 vacuum tubes to crack German codes. The abstraction had become real...
Though often caricatured as Washington's most menacing hawk, Wolfowitz is popular for his self-deprecating humor. "Bad pennies keep turning up," Wolfowitz said in an interview with TIME this month, mocking his own lengthy resume. A trained mathematician who speaks four languages, Wolfowitz is at ease discussing anything from Civil War battles to how he performs Eskimo rolls in his kayak. "Paul is one of the smartest guys I've ever known," says I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. Says a senior official who has worked with Wolfowitz in both Bush administrations: "He's had an intellectually...
Rene Descartes, the great 17th century French mathematician and philosopher, enshrined this metaphysical divide in what came to be known in Western philosophy as mind-body dualism. Many Eastern mystical traditions, contemplating the same inner space, have come to the opposite conclusion. They teach that the mind and body belong to an indivisible continuum...
...well are mathematically gifted, very quick and highly creative." The past winners aren't exactly household names--unless you live in an extremely enlightened household--but they include Richard Feynman and Kenneth Wilson, two Nobel prizewinners. Three Putnam winners have won the Fields Medal, the highest honor a mathematician can receive...
There's a lot at stake. A high score on the Putnam can fast-track a young mathematician's career, and a team win can put a math department on the map. Currently, Harvard is at the tail end of a dynasty of Michael Jordanian proportions, with 13 first-place finishes since 1985. At one point, Harvard teams went 8-0. "Once Harvard began its roll, the most talented high school students in the U.S. started to overwhelmingly choose to go to Harvard," says Vakil. "As a result, the undergraduate math program at Harvard has become the hardest...