The inception of quantum mechanics can essentially be traced back to a single “Golden Age” in the mid-1920s at one university: the Georg-August University of Göttingen, in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Home to many notable scientists, the university is associated with … Read more
By Evan Miller November 16, 2012 (Corrections) The programming profession is blessed with a number of gifted essayists. Today I will pick on three of my favorites — Eric Raymond, Paul Graham, and Steve Yegge — because they all seem … Read more
The axiom of choice (AC) seems harmless enough. It says that given a family of non empty sets, there is a choice function that assigns to each set an element of that set. AC is practically indispensable for doing modern … Read more
Unless you have skipped a lot of school, or work, or both – or you live in the USA – you have probably used an A4 sheet of paper before now. Have you ever wondered why it is the shape … Read more
What is mathematical thinking, is it the same as doing mathematics, if it is not, is it important, and if it is different from doing math and important, then why is it important? The answers are, in order, (1) I’ll … Read more
I like to talk about my research. I really do, even with people, who are not model theorists or not even mathematicians. It is fun to make up more or less unhinged ways of describing what you do and trying … Read more