A Nobel Prize in a divorce settlement and, a Keeper of the Broom | #25
Also, why is there no Nobel for Math really?
Wow. 25th edition. Feels like yesterday when the conversation among Team #9 was ‘Macha, do you think we can consistently send a newsletter every week?’ Somehow through excellent project management tools like Whatsapp, we have managed to deliver 25 editions. We think that deserves a prize.
Speaking of prizes, you can win some by attending our quiz on rock music - ‘Quizzing Rhapsody’ hosted by Berty Ashley. The rockstar panel is completed with singer-songwriter Maalavika Manoj and music journalist Bobin James. Shout out to Champaca Bookstore for supporting us 🤘🏽
Three things we learnt this week:
Now we go to the rockstars of the academic world.
Nobel Prize wins do not happen overnight. They are a result of years of research, peer reviews, throwing old results out and starting afresh. So it is imperative to have a partner who can support you through all that. University of Chicago professor Robert E. Lucas won the Nobel prize for economics in 1995 and had to split his winnings with his estranged wife. 7 years prior, in the divorce settlements she added a clause - "Wife shall receive 50 percent of any Nobel Prize. . . ." If the Nobel prize had been announced a few days later, she would not have been eligible as the contract was valid till October 31, 1995.The Ig Nobel prizes started in 1991 with the aim to honor genuine scientific research that aims to make people laugh and then make them think. One of the key events in the ceremony is the throwing of paper planes which is then swept off by Roy J Glauber who has the title of “Keeper of the Broom”. He couldn’t perform this in 2005 as he had to collect his own Nobel Prize award in Physics.
Nobel Prizes are awarded for sciences except Mathematics. The famous urban legend goes - Alfred Nobel’s wife had an affair with a Mathematician and then left Nobel for him. Well nice story but it doesn’t add up (see what we did there) It was simply because he didn't care much for mathematics, and that it was not considered a practical science from which humanity could benefit from.
Things we’re reading / watching / listening to:
Salam - The first ****** Nobel laureate - An fine documentary using archival footage mixed with present day interviews about Abdus Salam - an Ahmedi Muslim scientific genius, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979. It talks about the tightrope that Salam had to walk - between science and religion. He walks out of Pakistan after Ahmedis have been declared non-Muslims, but still retains the passport.
This video of Bob Wilson ringing the doorbell of fellow winner Paul Milgrom at 2 am to tell him that he won the Nobel prize. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited the pair for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats. Don’t we all wish we had the ability to sleep so comfortably?
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❤️ IWTK