TITLE: Hope for the Mature Researcher
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: November 19, 2015 2:45 PM
DESC:
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BODY:
In
A Primer on Graph Isomorphism,
Lance Fortnow puts László Babai's new algorithm
for the graph isomorphism problem into context. To close, he
writes:
Also we think of theory as a young person's game, most
of the big breakthroughs coming from researchers early
in their careers. Babai is 65, having just won the
Knuth Prize for his lifetime work on interactive proofs,
group algorithms and communication complexity. Babai
uses his extensive knowledge of combinatorics and group
theory to get his algorithm. No young researcher could
have had the knowledge base or maturity to be able to
put the pieces together the way that Babai did.
We often hear that research, especially research aimed at
solving our deepest problems, is a young person's game.
Great work takes a lot of stamina. It often requires a
single-minded focus that comes naturally to a young person
but which is a luxury unavailable to someone with a wider
set of obligations beyond work. Babai's recent breakthrough
reminds us that other forces are at play, that age and broad
experience can be advantages, too.
This passage serves as a nice counterweight to Garrison
Keillor's
The slow rate of learning... line, quoted in
my previous post.
Sometimes, slow and steady are what it takes to get a big
job done.
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