Blogtrek

Mathematicians done for at 50?

I have been hearing and reading about mathematicians not accomplishing very much after they turn 30. It is the youth of the mathematics world, it seems, that turns out the best mathematics and comes up with the best theorems and algorithms. Perhaps part of this image comes from mathematicians who are forever young because they died young: Eisenstein and Abel, for instance, or especially Galois, who was almost a child when he was shot to death in a duel at the age of 20. There are some exceptions; for example, the people who solved Fermat's Last Theorem were around 40. So what do mathematicians like me who are over 50 do? I say that it is the childlike nature of these young mathematicians that enables them to make great discoveries. They grab for the silly and ridiculous. They imagine things out of this world, such as five-dimensional manifolds. So if you want to be able to prove theorems well into your 60s, maybe the best way is to keep forever young, and keep a childlike attitude to life, as though it were all a game. Those of us who come up with the wildest ideas are those who will be productive into our 50s and beyond. You can see some of that in my writings, where I liken hat games to aviation maintenance and contra dancing to flipping mattresses. So just keep on playing, and maybe we will be productive into our old age. No, mathematicians are not done for at 50 - they keep on going like the transfinite ordinals, which keep on coming without end.