A more serious note in memory of Anatole Katok:
"Entropy measures the unpredictability
of a system that evolves over time."
— Alex Wright, BULLETIN (New Series)
OF THE AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY
Volume 53, Number 1, January 2016, Pages 41–56
http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/bull/1513
Article electronically published on September 8, 2015:
FROM RATIONAL BILLIARDS
TO DYNAMICS ON MODULI SPACES
Abstract:
"This short expository note gives an elementary
introduction to the study of dynamics on certain
moduli spaces and, in particular, the recent
breakthrough result of Eskin, Mirzakhani,
and Mohammadi. We also discuss the context
and applications of this result, and its connections
to other areas of mathematics, such as algebraic
geometry, Teichmüller theory, and ergodic theory
on homogeneous spaces."
See also the lives of Ratner and Mirzakhani.
October 11th, 2007 at 1:38 am
once we reach the point at which the templeton foundation – or any other private sponsor for that matter – is the main source of funding in a certain area of science it would be time for society to react. react by outdoing the private source and thus claiming the research topic in question firmly back into the public domain.
if society chooses to be oblivious – well – then so be it. research in that area will then not be driven by public interest but by private interest. ultimately it is just a reflection of the value commonly assigned to a specific field.
what i hope this will ultimately achieve is to ring the alarm bell in society that no private organization should take over research funding and direction.
if this will not happen – well – then we are kind of lost anyways. and funding no matter what agenda behind is still better than no funding, since i firmly believe that ultimately the truth (i.e. true statements about reproducible empirical relations) will ultimately prevail and nothing else.
October 11th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Chris says the truth consists of “true statements about reproducible empirical relations.” He should read William Golding’s Nobel lecture: “When I consider a universe which the scientist constructs by a set of rules which stipulate that this construct must be repeatable and identical, then I am a pessimist and bow down before the great god Entropy. I am optimistic when I consider the spiritual dimension which the scientist’s discipline forces him to ignore.”