Physics PhD Without a Bachelor's Degree - Does this Person Seem Familiar?

[FulhamFan3]

I don't know if this is the right place to post it but I'm doing it.

I remember reading a bio on someone who earned a physics Ph.D at Cambridge without having a bachelor's degree. I think he got into the program by impressing Einstein or some prominent physicist by exchanging ideas by mail.

Does this person seem familliar to anyone?

I've tried Google and I just keep getting Jane Goodall.

 

[George Jones]

I remember reading a bio on someone who earned a physics Ph.D at Cambridge without having a bachelor's degree. I think he got into the program by impressing Einstein or some prominent physicist by exchanging ideas by mail.

Does this person seem familliar to anyone?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moffat_%28physicist%29" .

What about the physicist who: received a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Cambridge; became a professor at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, but never got a Ph.D.; possibly should have won a Nobel Prize in physics, but missed out becauzse at most three person can share the Nobel?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I have an M.A. in math with no Bachelor's. I didn't impress Einstein. What happened was that I was an undergraduate at Rutgers and finished all of the math courses that they offered, but did not have enough credits to graduate. I asked if I could take graduate math courses for undergraduate credit. When they said yes, I then went to Temple U. and told them what Rutgers had said. Then I asked if I could just be accepted into their graduate program. They said that if I got a perfect score in the GMAT math test (not the generic one, but the specialized one) they would accept me. I did not get a perfect score, but it was close. For what reason I cannot guess, they didn't say that I couldn't attend because of my score, they said I couldn't attend because they had no fellowship for me. I said I would pay and they said I was in. After the first semester, someone dropped out and they gave me his fellowship.

 

[neutrino]

I have an M.A. in math with no Bachelor's. I didn't impress Einstein. What happened was that I was an undergraduate at Rutgers and finished all of the math courses that they offered, but did not have enough credits to graduate. I asked if I could take graduate math courses for undergraduate credit. When they said yes, I then went to Temple U. and told them what Rutgers had said. Then I asked if I could just be accepted into their graduate program. They said that if I got a perfect score in the GMAT math test (not the generic one, but the specialized one) they would accept me. I did not get a perfect score, but it was close. For what reason I cannot guess, they didn't say that I couldn't attend because of my score, they said I couldn't attend because they had no fellowship for me. I said I would pay and they said I was in. After the first semester, someone dropped out and they gave me his fellowship.

Now, that's some mathematician trivia.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Now, that's some mathematician trivia.

True, the story interests me more than it does others. There's a game where you tell two truths and one lie about yourself and others have to guess which is the lie. This is always picked as the lie.

 

[FulhamFan3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moffat_%28physicist%29" .

What about the physicist who: received a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Cambridge; became a professor at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, but never got a Ph.D.; possibly should have won a Nobel Prize in physics, but missed out becauzse at most three person can share the Nobel?

Thanks. That's exactly who I was looking for.

The person you're describing is Freeman Dyson.

 

[FulhamFan3]

I have an M.A. in math with no Bachelor's. I didn't impress Einstein. What happened was that I was an undergraduate at Rutgers and finished all of the math courses that they offered, but did not have enough credits to graduate. I asked if I could take graduate math courses for undergraduate credit. When they said yes, I then went to Temple U. and told them what Rutgers had said. Then I asked if I could just be accepted into their graduate program. They said that if I got a perfect score in the GMAT math test (not the generic one, but the specialized one) they would accept me. I did not get a perfect score, but it was close. For what reason I cannot guess, they didn't say that I couldn't attend because of my score, they said I couldn't attend because they had no fellowship for me. I said I would pay and they said I was in. After the first semester, someone dropped out and they gave me his fellowship.

Are you sure you didn't mean the GRE math test? As far as I know there is no specialized GMAT test for math and the math portion of the GMAT is so simple that I don't know how you could prove you know enough for graduate school with it.