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thoughtgaze
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I don't understand, how can one get it so young? I refuse to believe he is just some magical being that was born knowing everything... come on, give me some way to rationalize this!
Some colleges (especially community & public ones) let really advanced kids start college at anywhere from 12 to 15. The average science/liberal arts degree can be finished in two/three years with lots of APs or taking more then 18 credits a semester. Then the phD itself can be condensed down to about 3/4 years if you take tons of credit hours, have been working on the dissertation long before the defense, and/or the committee likes you. The phD can take even less time if you go to a school that doesn't have heavy courseload requirements for the PhD; My school requires about 60 credits worth of grad courses, I remember others requiring about 30.thoughtgaze said:I don't understand, how can one get it so young? I refuse to believe he is just some magical being that was born knowing everything
Wolfram was educated at Eton. At the age of 15, he published an article on particle physics[4] and entered Oxford University (St John's College) at age 17. He wrote a widely cited paper on heavy quark production at age 18.[2]
Wolfram received his Ph.D. in particle physics from the California Institute of Technology at age 20[5]
cronxeh said:A 20 year old is an utterly useless being. I'm sure if you were to examine their contribution, somewhere you would find the kernel of uselessness in it
cronxeh said:A 20 year old is an utterly useless being. I'm sure if you were to examine their contribution, somewhere you would find the kernel of uselessness in it
Is that true? (Asking both)Blenton said:It seems he's done more in his 20 years than you've done your entire life.
M Grandin said:My impression (from posts here) was that Stephen Wolfram was a young newly promoted
Ph.D today. But when looking him up at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wolfram
I find a 50 yeras old guy.
Lisa! said:Has he added any new thing to the science or world?
f95toli said:Mathematica? And more lately Wolfram Alpha...
But yes, he is more famous for his work as an entrepreneur and software developer than for his more "direct" contributions to science.
"How many spikes does Stegy have?"Phyisab**** said:How many spikes havs stegy?
f95toli said:Mathematica? And more lately Wolfram Alpha...
But yes, he is more famous for his work as an entrepreneur and software developer than for his more "direct" contributions to science.
f95toli said:Mathematica? And more lately Wolfram Alpha...
But yes, he is more famous for his work as an entrepreneur and software developer than for his more "direct" contributions to science.
Cyclovenom said:Don't tell that to some of the people around here (two-fishquant) that will only support their cases :rofl:
Brian_C said:I would have serious questions about his knowledge of basic physics. There is no way you can rush through a physics Ph.D at such a young age without skipping over a lot of stuff.
Brian_C said:I would have serious questions about his knowledge of basic physics. There is no way you can rush through a physics Ph.D at such a young age without skipping over a lot of stuff.
Abstract
A new form of high energy electron-hadron coupling is examined with reference to the experimental data. The electron is taken to have a neutral vector gluon cloud with a radius . This is shown to be consistent with measurements on and . At low energies, only photons couple to the gluons, but at higher energies `evaporation' then `boiling' of and occurs, allowing strong interactions...
Brian_C said:No, I don't believe you can become an expert in a subject at such a young age. Teenagers are not mentally prepared to do graduate level work in physics. The fact that he has accomplished nothing as a physicist since receiving his Ph.D only validates my point.
Brian_C said:No, I don't believe you can become an expert in a subject at such a young age. Teenagers are not mentally prepared to do graduate level work in physics. The fact that he has accomplished nothing as a physicist since receiving his Ph.D only validates my point.
Leptos said:"How many spikes does Stegy have?"
You can't expect a four year old to write perfect sentences.
Brian_C said:No, I don't believe you can become an expert in a subject at such a young age. Teenagers are not mentally prepared to do graduate level work in physics. The fact that he has accomplished nothing as a physicist since receiving his Ph.D only validates my point.
British PhDs generally have no course load requirements.story645 said:The phD can take even less time if you go to a school that doesn't have heavy courseload requirements for the PhD
http://www.stephenwolfram.com/interviews/88-fortune/Wolfram was born in London in 1959. His father ran an import-export business and wrote novels on the side. His mother was an Oxford philosopher. "I was viewed as a hopeless, crazy child," he says. "My parents concluded that I was 'impossibly psychologically confused and would never get anywhere in life.'" He wrote his first two scientific papers with no help except what he could find in the Eton library and popular science journals. Without bothering to graduate, Wolfram moved on to Oxford and became acquainted, for the first time, with "real scientist types." He entered the university just after his 17th birthday. "The first day I got to my first-year lectures and decided they were really awful," he says. "So I went to third-year lectures, and I found those pretty boring too." He left Oxford, once again without a diploma, and enrolled for graduate studies at Caltech, which had recruited him on the strength of his publications and his burgeoning reputation.
In Pasadena, Wolfram worked with some of the best physicists in the world. Once again, he decided he was wasting his time and made motions to move on. "But we tricked him, so to speak," says Nobelist Murray Gell-Mann, who helped to bring Wolfram west. "We gave him a Ph.D." Wolfram was barely 20. The Caltech physicists also awarded him a senior research position to help keep him around. It didn't. Neither did the MacArthur Fellowship, which came at that time and paid him $128,000 over five years.
Wolfram simply didn't seem interested in doing what he was expected to do. What had impressed Gell-Mann, Feynman, and most other physicists--at least those whom Wolfram hadn't totally antagonized--was the range of subjects he penetrated with alacrity: high-energy physics, mathematics, cosmology, computing, even artificial intelligence. But they would have preferred him to stick to physics. "Most students are very, very impressed with the beauty and fundamental character of elementary particle physics," says Gell-Mann. "Stephen has a different kind of taste."
i liked how they made a distinction between math & mental calculation. one of my biggest pet peeves is people who think they're the same, as in "what do you mean you can't figure out what your change is? i thought you do math"Phyisab**** said:Sorry but in my opinion you are in denial. There are numerous examples of people making contributions to their fields at a young age on a level which us mere mortals could never dream of in an entire lifetime. For example, Evariste Galois. Also I'm not sure about his early contributions but Landau received his PhD at age 21. Also, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_child_prodigies .
It is difficult to say for certain whether Stephen Wolfram could have become a successful entrepreneur at a young age. While he did demonstrate entrepreneurial skills and success with his company Wolfram Research, Inc., it is impossible to predict what could have happened had he started at a younger age.
Some factors that likely contributed to Stephen Wolfram's success as an entrepreneur include his intelligence, creativity, determination, and ability to think outside the box. He also had a strong background in mathematics and computer science, which were crucial for his work in creating Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha.
Yes, Stephen Wolfram faced several challenges as a young entrepreneur. One of the main challenges was convincing investors and potential customers to believe in his vision and invest in his company. He also faced technical challenges in developing and refining his products, as well as competition from other companies.
Stephen Wolfram's age likely had both positive and negative impacts on his entrepreneurship journey. On one hand, his young age may have made it more difficult to be taken seriously by investors and potential customers. On the other hand, his youth and fresh perspective may have allowed him to think outside the box and come up with innovative ideas.
There are several lessons we can learn from Stephen Wolfram's success as a young entrepreneur. These include the importance of perseverance, creativity, and thinking outside the box. Additionally, his success shows the potential for young entrepreneurs to make a significant impact in their fields, regardless of their age.