Math-Life Balance
Math-Life Balance
Mura Yakerson
William Thurston "On proof and progress in mathematics"
5 minutes Posted Jun 22, 2021 at 9:32 am.
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Show notes

In this [episode], I read a piece from Thurston's essay "On proof and progress in mathematics", where he reflects on the importance of seeing mathematicians' progress and contributions much broader than just in proving new theorems.


William Thurston on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thurston

Cover photo: from this Wikipedia page


The full essay: https://arxiv.org/pdf/math/9404236.pdf


Thurston's lecture "Knots to Narnia": https://youtu.be/IKSrBt2kFD4


Thurston's answer on MathOverflow about contributions in mathematics: https://mathoverflow.net/questions/43690/whats-a-mathematician-to-do/44213#44213