Comments on: The next Hawking

By: Green sits in Hawking’s chair | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:37:49 +0000

[...] we recently noted, Stephen Hawking has stepped down from the Lucasian Chair at Cambridge. The chair didn’t stay [...]

By: Spiv

Spiv — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:16:02 +0000

“Nima Arkani-Hamed would be an excellent choice.”

I was thinking the same thing, he fits the bill of a relatively young and capable theorist. He’s also got a certain level of pop-culture-ness already going for him. Putting my own biases against string theory aside, of course.

Good chance they will tap another Cambridge prof to move offices though.

By: JDM

JDM — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:01:42 +0000

Nima Arkani-Hamed would be an excellent choice.

By: Misha

Misha — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:14:07 +0000

friendship, Misha.

By: upstairs medical school

upstairs medical school — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:47:49 +0000

Timon is right. You are only standing on Newtons shoulders if you are furthering science. What has Hawking done in the past handfulls of years? I can make a fancy letter head on my computer if that is all you are looking for.

By: Gary

Gary — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:50:37 +0000

I nominate Al Gore or Obama.

Seriously.

I have to think that y’all know you what you’re talking about in all things, no?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:36:45 +0000

Barack Obama

By: Not Sean

Not Sean — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:53:23 +0000

Who will get the Lucasian? I like to nominate Sean. After all, Sean says time is not fundamental, and thus deserves a timeless position. Thus awarded, he will have all the time in the world to write a paper to prove it.

By: Flow » Blog Archive » Daily Digest for October 9th - The zeitgeist daily

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:08:37 +0000

[...] Shared The next [Stephen] Hawking. [...]

By: Timon of Athens

Timon of Athens — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:45:02 +0000

Hawking was very young and doing great things when he got this job. Great as my admiration for Witten may be, neither of these things can be said of him now. I hope it will go to someone like one of the young people who work on applications of AdS/CFT to the quark-gluon plasma; something like that where there is hope, however small, that exciting things will emerge from it.

By: Victor

Victor — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:10:27 +0000

Hey look. There is an afterlife:

http://www.hulu.com/paranormal-tv

By: AdamK

AdamK — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:02:01 +0000

I hereby volunteer to take over the Chair. I don’t know much about Mathematik, but I have a great deal of experience at sitting down.

By: Adam Solomon

Adam Solomon — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:31:53 +0000

It actually might be interesting to hear the thoughts of folks in the Biz on this: does Cambridge gain much by openly soliciting applications, rather than adopting a “we’ll call you” approach? Would we expect the Lucasian Professor to be a sufficiently well-celebrated physicist already?

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:09:02 +0000

I find it funnier that the opening for the job was posted in the classifieds of Physics Today or something last year. Yeah, I’ll be sure and send in my CV and get some recommendations for that job .

By: greg

greg — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:44:04 +0000

@daniel 9 – I don’t know if I’d say subtle. I appreciated the humor, it just seemed as if there was more in the way of humor than metaphorical indication of superhumaness. I totally respect what he has done as a physicist and as a person. But just remember, like Newton before him, he stood on the shoulders of giants.

By: Ja Muller

Ja Muller — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:30:36 +0000

Does Witten even want the job? It seems like the IAS is a better place for him and he doesn’t seem to care too much about the fame and prestige that having the chair would have. If he wanted it I’m sure they would give it to him, but you could pretty much say that for any position in math or physics.

By: 8 October 09-afternoon « blueollie

8 October 09-afternoon « blueollie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:45:44 +0000

[...] Mathematics: perhaps I ought to apply for this job? [...]

By: Eugene

Eugene — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:32:09 +0000

The job was advertised on the Cambridge website last year. It was quite funny to see it. I mulled about putting in an application just so that I can say I applied for Hawking’s job (I didn’t, sadly).

Good luck to whomever who steps in.

By: ollie

ollie — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:28:53 +0000

I’m available.

By: Robert L. Oldershaw

Robert L. Oldershaw — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:24:12 +0000

Does an office come with the chair?