From: "Dr. Michael Albert" Subject: Re: Shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 09:47:31 -0500 Newsgroups: sci.math Summary: [missing] On 29 Feb 2000, MCKAY john wrote: > Who wrote the shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics? > What was it about? I can't give the reference, but I am under the impression that somewhere out there, there is a thesis only a few pages long which defines ordered pairs in terms of sets, ie., = { {x}, {x,y} } or something like that. In physics, most famously, DeBroigle's these, in which he introduced the concept of the DeBroigle wavelength of material particles (e.g., electrons) was only a few pages long. There was apparently some question as to whether this deserved a doctorate. Einstein was in town and took a liking to the thesis, thus DeBroigle was awarded his degree. My understanding is that DeBroigle didn't do further work in physics. My personal advice to students writing a thesis, however, is that one should try to write a thesis sufficiently massive that the folks on the committe would not wish to have a copy of it land on their heads :-). Best wishes, Mike ============================================================================== From: Peter Percival Subject: Re: Shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 17:09:15 +0000 Newsgroups: sci.math "Dr. Michael Albert" wrote: > > On 29 Feb 2000, MCKAY john wrote: > > Who wrote the shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics? > > What was it about? > > I can't give the reference, but I am under the impression > that somewhere out there, there is a thesis only a few > pages long which defines ordered pairs in terms > of sets, ie., > > = { {x}, {x,y} } > > or something like that. Wiener, 1914, df= {{{x},0},{{y}}} though the notation is quite different. Not his thesis, but a paper in Procs Camb Phil Soc, four pages long. Hausdorff, 1914, df= {{x,1},{y,2}} with 1, 2 distinct from each other and x and y. Not his thesis, "Grundzu:ge der Mengenlehre". Kuratowski, 1921, df= {{x,y},x}, "Sur la notion d'ordre dans la th'eorie des ensembles", Fund Math, 11 pages. Thesis? I don't know. Sorry to be negative but I know you wouldn't sleep at night without the references. > > In physics, most famously, DeBroigle's these, in which > he introduced the concept of the DeBroigle wavelength > of material particles (e.g., electrons) was only a few > pages long. There was apparently some question as to > whether this deserved a doctorate. Einstein was in > town and took a liking to the thesis, thus DeBroigle "Hey boys, Albert's back in town!" "Ye, ha! There'll be some theses awarded tonight!" Sound of whiskey tumblers being smashed and whores' bottoms being smacked. Pity no one did for Presburger what Einstein did for de Broglie. > was awarded his degree. My understanding is > that DeBroigle didn't do further work in physics. Too busy being princely, I bet. Nobody even noticed his introduction of the term "antiparticle", Comptes Rendus, 1934. Strange that the term "uncleparticle" for the antiparticle's mate never caught on... > > My personal advice to students writing a thesis, however, > is that one should try to write a thesis sufficiently massive > that the folks on the committe would not wish to have a copy > of it land on their heads :-). > > Best wishes, > Mike ============================================================================== From: cartoaje Subject: Re: Shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 02:27:12 -0800 Newsgroups: sci.math also sprach "Dr. Michael Albert": >In physics, most famously, DeBroigle's these, in which >he introduced the concept of the DeBroigle wavelength >of material particles (e.g., electrons) was only a few >pages long. There was apparently some question as to >whether this deserved a doctorate. Einstein was in >town and took a liking to the thesis, thus DeBroigle >was awarded his degree. My understanding is >that DeBroigle didn't do further work in physics. It's not true. I have read the beginning of de Broglie's thesis and it fills a book. It was published during the 1950s so your university library might have a copy. Mihai "Crazy old Stauf is watching us; scaring us; wathing us play at his puzzles. Only he knows the rules. Only Stauf knows the rules!" * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network * The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free! ============================================================================== From: bpc@netcom.com (Benjamin P. Carter) Subject: Re: Shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics Date: 2 Mar 2000 07:57:29 GMT Newsgroups: sci.math I heard an anecdote to the effect that Cauchy's thesis was very brief but included many of what are now standard theorems in complex analysis. -- Ben Carter ============================================================================== From: kovarik@mcmail.cis.McMaster.CA (Zdislav V. Kovarik) Subject: Re: Shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics Date: 29 Feb 2000 11:09:00 -0500 Newsgroups: sci.math In article <89gfm7$edk$1@newsflash.concordia.ca>, MCKAY john wrote: :Who wrote the shortest doctoral thesis in mathematics? :What was it about? : :John McKay : One candidate (so the legend goes) is E. Picard, and the topic was (surprisingly) the Big Picard's Theorem, presented and proved on one page. ZVK(Slavek)