June Huh often finds himself lost.
Every afternoon, he takes a long walk around Princeton University, where he’s a professor in the mathematics department. On this particular day in mid-May, he’s making his way through the woods around the nearby Institute for Advanced Study — “Just so you know,” he says as he considers a fork in the path ahead, “I don’t know where we are” — pausing every so often to point out the subtle movements of wildlife hiding beneath leaves or behind trees.
Huh had no desire to be a mathematician. He was indifferent to the subject, and he dropped out of high school to become a poet.
For a few months in the spring of 2019, all he did was read. He felt an urge to revisit books he’d first encountered when he was younger — including Meditations by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and several novels by the German author Hermann Hesse — so that’s what he did. “Which means I didn’t do any work,” Huh said. “So that’s kind of a problem.”
As a consequence, “I became better and better at ignoring deadlines.”
“I think intention and willpower … are highly overrated,” he said.
He tried his best to avoid math whenever possible. His father once tried to teach him out of a workbook, but rather than try to solve the problems, Huh would copy the solutions from the back. When his father caught on and tore those pages out, Huh went to a local bookstore and wrote down the answers there
When he was 16 years old and in the middle of his first year in high school (which lasts for three years in South Korea), he decided to drop out to write poetry. He was something of a romantic. “I could literally physically cry after listening to good music,” he said. He wrote about nature and about his own experiences.
He planned to complete his masterpiece in the two years before he’d have to attend university. “So that didn’t happen,” he laughed.
“But June is the opposite. … If you talk to him for five minutes about some calculus problem, you’d think this guy wouldn’t pass a qualifying exam. He’s very slow.”
Every afternoon, he takes a long walk around Princeton University, where he’s a professor in the mathematics department. On this particular day in mid-May, he’s making his way through the woods around the nearby Institute for Advanced Study — “Just so you know,” he says as he considers a fork in the path ahead, “I don’t know where we are” — pausing every so often to point out the subtle movements of wildlife hiding beneath leaves or behind trees.
Huh had no desire to be a mathematician. He was indifferent to the subject, and he dropped out of high school to become a poet.
For a few months in the spring of 2019, all he did was read. He felt an urge to revisit books he’d first encountered when he was younger — including Meditations by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and several novels by the German author Hermann Hesse — so that’s what he did. “Which means I didn’t do any work,” Huh said. “So that’s kind of a problem.”
As a consequence, “I became better and better at ignoring deadlines.”
“I think intention and willpower … are highly overrated,” he said.
He tried his best to avoid math whenever possible. His father once tried to teach him out of a workbook, but rather than try to solve the problems, Huh would copy the solutions from the back. When his father caught on and tore those pages out, Huh went to a local bookstore and wrote down the answers there
When he was 16 years old and in the middle of his first year in high school (which lasts for three years in South Korea), he decided to drop out to write poetry. He was something of a romantic. “I could literally physically cry after listening to good music,” he said. He wrote about nature and about his own experiences.
He planned to complete his masterpiece in the two years before he’d have to attend university. “So that didn’t happen,” he laughed.
“But June is the opposite. … If you talk to him for five minutes about some calculus problem, you’d think this guy wouldn’t pass a qualifying exam. He’s very slow.”
всем читать это интервью оно просто гениальное
https://www.quantamagazine.org/june-huh-high-school-dropout-wins-the-fields-medal-20220705/
https://www.quantamagazine.org/june-huh-high-school-dropout-wins-the-fields-medal-20220705/
Quanta Magazine
He Dropped Out to Become a Poet. Now He’s Won a Fields Medal.
June Huh wasn’t interested in mathematics until a chance encounter during his sixth year of college. Now his profound insights connecting combinatorics and geometry have led to math’s highest honor.
This approach doesn’t just apply to Huh’s mathematical work. In 2013, he decided he wanted to learn to cook. As a total beginner, he adopted the strategy of making the same dish — a simple pasta in oil — every day until it was perfect. For six months, that’s exactly what he did. (To date, according to Kim, that’s the only dish he knows how to cook.)
Empty Name
This approach doesn’t just apply to Huh’s mathematical work. In 2013, he decided he wanted to learn to cook. As a total beginner, he adopted the strategy of making the same dish — a simple pasta in oil — every day until it was perfect. For six months, that’s…
это буквально я когда учусь играть на пианино
Huh’s entire life is built on routine. “Almost all of my days are exactly the same,” he said. “I have a very high tolerance for repetition.” He has trouble staying asleep and usually wakes up at around 3 a.m. He then goes to the gym.
He lived off frozen pizza for months at a time because he didn’t want to deal with getting groceries and cooking. He just wanted to do math.
“Other people work one hour and just take a five-minute rest,” Kim said. “He is like, one hour do something else, and just focus for five minutes, 10 minutes.”
ВАЖНО: кто может вписать в Питере в начале августа – напишите в лс плиз (в описании есть ссылка)
только что я попросил чела (с матфака вшэ) из твиттера правильно объяснить мне теоремы геделя и он написал 30 сообщений (спасибо ему)
Roman Mikhailov: Homotopy patterns in group theory СМОТРЕТЬ ВСЕМ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjghL908gQc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjghL908gQc
YouTube
Roman Mikhailov: Homotopy patterns in group theory
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.