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1-dan master of the unyielding fist of Bayesian inference
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It in no way reflects my feelings toward Quanta staff writer Charlie Wood that my favorite moment of the year in physics happened when he got seasick this summer aboard a ferry full of physicists on the North Sea. Charlie and hundreds of the world’s top quantum researchers were en route to Helgoland, the island birthplace of quantum mechanics, for a historic conference to mark the theory’s…
In August, a team of mathematicians posted a paper claiming to solve a major problem in algebraic geometry — using entirely alien techniques. It instantly captivated the field, stoking excitement in some mathematicians and skepticism in others. The result deals with polynomial equations, which combine variables raised to powers (like y = x or x2 − 3xy = z2). These equations are some of the…
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