Intermittency corrections (sic) and the perversity of group think. In The Times of 11 January this year, there was a report by their Science Editor which had the title Expert’s lonely 30-year quest for Alzheimer’s cure offers new hope. Senile dementia is the curse of the age (even if temporarily eclipsed by the Corona virus)Continue reading Intermittency corrections (sic) and the perversity of group think

Bad proofs and `curate’s egg’ theories. At about the time I took up my appointment at Edinburgh, I heard about a pure mathematician who wanted to be remembered for his bad proofs. Some years later I read his obituary in The Times and this fact was mentioned again. I had thought that I had keptContinue reading Bad proofs and `curate’s egg’ theories

The infinite-Reynolds number limit: a first look. I notice that MSRI at Berkeley have a programme next year on math problems in fluid dynamics. The primary component seems to be an examination of the relationship between the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, `in the zero-viscosity limit’. The latter is, of course, the same as the limitContinue reading The infinite-Reynolds number limit: a first look

A first look at Kolmogorov (1941) Around the turn of the new millennium, I attended the PhD oral of one of my own students for the last time as Internal Examiner. After that the regulations were changed; or perhaps it was frowned on for the supervisor to also be the Internal. Later still I stoppedContinue reading A first look at Kolmogorov (1941)