I was in the same Harvard class as Manjul Bhargava, one of this year's Fields Medal winners. I remember having lunch with him as a freshman and being amazed that he was already taking Math 134 (topology). I slowly realized he'd effectively taken a full undergraduate math curriculum in high school.
I had a friend who was Manjul's TA for a probability class our senior year. I still remember him exclaiming, "There's no way that series telescoped!" [1] when Manjul solved one problem in a particularly clever way.
The strange thing is that it was hard to tell at first if Manjul was particularly smart. Two of our other mathematically accomplished classmates, Lenny Ng and Kiran Kedlaya (both of whom I knew much better than Manjul), were obviously brilliant, but with Manjul it took a lot longer to figure out he was a genius.
> I had a friend who was Manjul's TA for a probability class our senior year. I still remember him exclaiming, "There's no way that series telescoped!" [1] when Manjul solved one problem in a particularly clever way.
By any chance, can you remember that problem? I have no way to understand Manjul Bhargava's work that got him the Nobel prize, but I could probably understand how he solved that problem, which would enable me to perceive a slight bit of his genius.
I'm a current Duke student and took multivariable calculus taught by none other than Lenny Ng a year ago. I had no idea who he really was until about halfway through, though we all knew he was brilliant. One of the nicest professors I've ever had, exceptional at explaining concepts too. He also draws pictures like a god, something that's obviously really beneficial in that sort of class. He used to say his drawings were a bit off while we would just sit there astonished. Such an amazing guy.
Lenny was one of my lab partners in Physics 15c. It was especially cool since I'd read about him in Newsweek the year before. Really smart, super nice guy.
I had a friend who was Manjul's TA for a probability class our senior year. I still remember him exclaiming, "There's no way that series telescoped!" [1] when Manjul solved one problem in a particularly clever way.
The strange thing is that it was hard to tell at first if Manjul was particularly smart. Two of our other mathematically accomplished classmates, Lenny Ng and Kiran Kedlaya (both of whom I knew much better than Manjul), were obviously brilliant, but with Manjul it took a lot longer to figure out he was a genius.
I think now the secret is out.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescoping_series