Determination and effort propelled Jacob Tsimerman to the top of the math world. But now that he’s won a Fields Medal, he worries that the field is in jeopardy. The post Sometimes Being First Means Seeing the End Before Anyone Else first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Jacob Tsimerman knows that many people see mathematics as a search for beauty. Over the course of his career, he has encountered beauty many times. But beauty is not what drives him. What he loves most is to solve hard problems, and to be the first to do so. “In my experience, and I think many people’s experience, math is very much a goal-oriented endeavor,” he said. “The truth-and-beauty stuff…