How Not to Accept a Prize

Oxford Mathematician James Maynard won the 2022 Fields Medal, the highest honour for a mathematician. Here's how he accepted the award as told to Hannah Fry.

#shorts #science #maths #math #mathematics #stem

[bioblade]

equivalent of checking 1+1 on a calculator, in a math exam, after a tricky question.

[mattc]

When he said that they must have thought him the weirdest mathematician in the world I was already thinking that must be a pretty tough competition. I like the fact he realised that as he said it as well.

[DH-rjkv]

"Do you, James Maynard, take this Fields Medal, to be your price, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, and promise to love and cherish the community of science until the Collatz' conjecture is proven?""

"Yes. I. Do."

[davidgillies]

If other British Fields medallists are any guide, he should be in line for a KBE at some point.

[xXMiaplacidusXx]

"Tough competition at this front" xD

[gchtrivs]

Exactly something I would do in this situation

[Sluggernaut]

I would love to see a video on the "weirdest" mathematicians.

[gideonk]

Perhaps some context? Who’s this guy and what’s he famous for? (Asking seriously, no cynicism)

[Spaghetti-man]

It is the same during alliance selection in a robotics tournament

[peterjordan]

Ive got no chance of winning any medal but I can totally understand his thought process and paranoia.
Sometimes when I approach a zebra crossing and someone's about to walk across I often think "sh!t what if I hit the accelerator now and I hit those people" so I then do a test slow down around 20m back, just in case I've got the pedals wrong. It's bizarre

[richardneville]

I was distracted by the wrist band he’s wearing wondering if in fact he was hospitalized for paranoia.

[TranquilSeaOfMath]

It seems reasonable to me; however, I'm a mathematician too. A great achievement. I've been ineligible for a while now. 😐

[harshvardhan]

😂 This is kind of a speech equivalent of when we are fighting hard against our sudden urges of intrusive thoughts and suddenly slow down to make sure we are not going to even unconsciously do it. Such as when the system is in BIOS Update, we do know that switching it off will brick the whole system, 😂 so we physically distance ourselves from the power button and the power sources so that we don't accidentally turn it off.

[themadplotter]

Too clever for me, I just like cups of tea and fart jokes

[nachiketsahasrabuddhe]

Different class of minds, different problems!

[markroberts]

The autism is strong with him I am very proud

[jetzeschaafsma]

Is that our favorite mathematiciess and thought leader, or just someone sharing her accent?

[thaliart]

We, intelligent people are funny.
Why are intellectual not funny????

[IndigoIndustrial]

I could respect someone who turns down a Fields medal or Nobel Prize.