Who is most respected in particle physics?

[arivero]

My problem is not with "personally", but... are you going to write people whose papers YOU have not read?

 

[marcus]

Look at it in historical perspective for a moment. Kalitvianski says his career (as a mathematical physicist?) started in 1981-1982. I guess Moscow maybe. He has lived through the near-collapse of a major scientific establishment. People were taking desperate measures to relocate and continue their work. He tried to re-locate to USA and didn't make it but instead relocated to France. (If I remember correctly.) On the basis of rec letters from other Russian mathematicians who in some cases probably did not know him. Different standards probably prevailed in the S.U. crisis times of 20 years ago.

Most of us have not had that experience.

I have no great sympathy for Kalitvianski nor do I especially appreciate his proposed revolutionary theory but I reckon he is not a crackpot. I reckon he is a passionate obsessed guy who is very frustrated by a kind of "shipwreck" disaster that he thinks was not his fault--which washed him up on the beach to a job in France where he is kept busy and has no time to work on his pet idea. He maintains a certain gloomy sense of humor about it.

We have mostly all known NORMAL functioning scientific establishments. Many if not all of us, under other circumstances, could actually be thinking and acting like Kalitvianski, if we had a pet idea we wanted to develop and then the supporting economy crashed and the scientific establishment partially crumbled.

He feels a moral necessity to do something we consider abnormal---write to people he doesn't know, for their recommendations. Personally, given the circumstances, I think that's cool. I read that as passionate determination on the part of someone who (is probably not a crackpot and) has decided he has no other options.

Something I don't like is a kind of "chip on shoulder" mannerism or a readiness to air his grievances. But that is just a matter of style, not content. It is could be partly cultural (the famous gloomy fatalistic sense of humor---the well-known dark irony).
But if you ignore style and just look at content then I claim that what he is proposing to do is perfectly OK and we should suggest names to him and tell him to "go for it".

So what if he fails? If he fails, he fails and that is all. He has apparently reached a point where he feels like he has to try this. We might have good advice but he doesn't want that now.

================

@Bob,

Bob, go for it. Write the letters! Give it your best shot. Do you want more names suggested?
What would be an example of a couple of people you think are the kind you should write to? Give us an idea of one or two and we can try to think of more LIKE the ones you think are good.

 

[Vanadium 50]

what he is proposing to do is perfectly OK and we should suggest names to him and tell him to "go for it".

If someone were to come to you and say, "I'm broke. I need advice on how to play the lottery", it's simply not responsible to answer the question without also pointing out that this is not a sound fiscal strategy.

Bob for Short's institution has a theory group. That set of people are in a position to write letters that will be taken far more seriously than some stranger's.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Do you read scientific articles of your mates solely?

No, but we weren't talking about scientific articles. We were talking about letters of recommendation. And we weren't talking about whether the writer of the letter is known to the reader of the letter - we were talking about whether the subject of the letter is known to the writer of the letter.

I am an experienced researcher who have already solved lots of difficult problems and who has his own, original vision (proposal) of how we can reformulate out theories without conceptual and mathematical difficulties.

Yes, we know. You try and work your theory into every thread you can.

 

[ccdantas]

I think there is a confusion here between two concepts:

Recommendation letter

versus

Letter of support

It is perfectly fine to get letters of support from someone that do not know you or your work closely, but have read your project/idea and thinks it has merit for financial or other support.

Concerning the first one, it is absolutely imperative that the person knows the candidate from having worked with him/her for a long period and closely. So, yes, a complete stranger asking for a recommendation letter may be seen very, very negatively and it is embarrassing.

But suppose for a moment that a very "important" researcher accepts to write a recommendation letter to someone he doesn't know. There are only 2 options:

- He/she will lie about the candidate (something very unlikely, sp. from an "authority")
- He/she will be honest that he does not know the candidate -- and therefore it will be a poor rec. letter (even if the project seems very good -- but again this appears not to be important for the job in question)

So you see that is why such a thing is not of usual practice.

Also, I think Marcus is making a confusion here. I think every one is entitled to fight for their ideas and independent research, but there are right and wrong ways to do it. My considerations above are meant to offer him a positive advice.

As a last word, I think it is perfectly fine if he collects letters of support to his project from "important" researchers, if he can, and attach them to the recommendation letters from people that have professionally worked with him. This could make him a good candidate for the job.

 

[Bob_for_short]

I think there is a confusion here between two concepts:

Recommendation letter

versus

Letter of support

It is perfectly fine to get letters of support from someone that do not know you or your work closely, but have read your project/idea and thinks it has merit for financial or other support.

Yes, thank you, C.C. Dantas, for this clarification. Indeed, I have good letters of recommendations from people with whom I work, but here in France I currently work in another field. So what I seek is a word of support of my independent research program. I implied exactly this.

 

[MTd2]

Bob, email Garrett Lisi. He is the best guy in the world to give you advices.

 

[Bob_for_short]

Thanks, MTd2, I know everything about Garrett. I am looking for something different - I've got to win a competition.