Example of a Mathematician/Physicist whose Other Publications during their PhD eclipsed their PhD Thesis ...



Example of a Mathematician/Physicist whose Other Publications during their PhD eclipsed their PhD Thesis



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I am wondering if there is some example of a mathematician or physicist who published other papers at the same time as their PhD work and independently of it which actually eclipsed the content of the PhD thesis.



The only semi-example I can think of immediately is Einstein, whose other publications in 1905 (especially on special relativity and the photoelectric effect) eclipsed his PhD thesis which was published in the same year. Although it contained important insights, it was somewhat forgotten to the point where he felt that he had to remind people about it.



Although this is a soft question, I didn't ask in Academia as I didn't want examples outside of mathematics and physics.










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$endgroup$








  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I wouldn't know if "eclipse" is the right word here, but an example that comes to mind is Woodin.
    $endgroup$
    – Andrés E. Caicedo
    7 hours ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    PhD is a relatively recent innovation, especially in England. Until the mid 20 century most British mathematicians had no PhD.
    $endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    7 hours ago
















9












$begingroup$


I am wondering if there is some example of a mathematician or physicist who published other papers at the same time as their PhD work and independently of it which actually eclipsed the content of the PhD thesis.



The only semi-example I can think of immediately is Einstein, whose other publications in 1905 (especially on special relativity and the photoelectric effect) eclipsed his PhD thesis which was published in the same year. Although it contained important insights, it was somewhat forgotten to the point where he felt that he had to remind people about it.



Although this is a soft question, I didn't ask in Academia as I didn't want examples outside of mathematics and physics.










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$








  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I wouldn't know if "eclipse" is the right word here, but an example that comes to mind is Woodin.
    $endgroup$
    – Andrés E. Caicedo
    7 hours ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    PhD is a relatively recent innovation, especially in England. Until the mid 20 century most British mathematicians had no PhD.
    $endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    7 hours ago














9












9








9


4



$begingroup$


I am wondering if there is some example of a mathematician or physicist who published other papers at the same time as their PhD work and independently of it which actually eclipsed the content of the PhD thesis.



The only semi-example I can think of immediately is Einstein, whose other publications in 1905 (especially on special relativity and the photoelectric effect) eclipsed his PhD thesis which was published in the same year. Although it contained important insights, it was somewhat forgotten to the point where he felt that he had to remind people about it.



Although this is a soft question, I didn't ask in Academia as I didn't want examples outside of mathematics and physics.










share|cite|improve this question











$endgroup$




I am wondering if there is some example of a mathematician or physicist who published other papers at the same time as their PhD work and independently of it which actually eclipsed the content of the PhD thesis.



The only semi-example I can think of immediately is Einstein, whose other publications in 1905 (especially on special relativity and the photoelectric effect) eclipsed his PhD thesis which was published in the same year. Although it contained important insights, it was somewhat forgotten to the point where he felt that he had to remind people about it.



Although this is a soft question, I didn't ask in Academia as I didn't want examples outside of mathematics and physics.







soft-question






share|cite|improve this question















share|cite|improve this question













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share|cite|improve this question








asked 8 hours ago


























community wiki





Tom









  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I wouldn't know if "eclipse" is the right word here, but an example that comes to mind is Woodin.
    $endgroup$
    – Andrés E. Caicedo
    7 hours ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    PhD is a relatively recent innovation, especially in England. Until the mid 20 century most British mathematicians had no PhD.
    $endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    7 hours ago














  • 2




    $begingroup$
    I wouldn't know if "eclipse" is the right word here, but an example that comes to mind is Woodin.
    $endgroup$
    – Andrés E. Caicedo
    7 hours ago






  • 5




    $begingroup$
    PhD is a relatively recent innovation, especially in England. Until the mid 20 century most British mathematicians had no PhD.
    $endgroup$
    – Alexandre Eremenko
    7 hours ago








2




2




$begingroup$
I wouldn't know if "eclipse" is the right word here, but an example that comes to mind is Woodin.
$endgroup$
– Andrés E. Caicedo
7 hours ago




$begingroup$
I wouldn't know if "eclipse" is the right word here, but an example that comes to mind is Woodin.
$endgroup$
– Andrés E. Caicedo
7 hours ago




5




5




$begingroup$
PhD is a relatively recent innovation, especially in England. Until the mid 20 century most British mathematicians had no PhD.
$endgroup$
– Alexandre Eremenko
7 hours ago




$begingroup$
PhD is a relatively recent innovation, especially in England. Until the mid 20 century most British mathematicians had no PhD.
$endgroup$
– Alexandre Eremenko
7 hours ago










3 Answers
3






active

oldest

votes


















6












$begingroup$

Anatoly Karatsuba discovered the
Karatsuba algorithm in 1960, and reported it to Kolmogorov who published it under his (Karatsuba's) name without his knowledge. It seems fair to say that this first example of a "divide and conquer" algorithm eclipsed Karatsuba's 1966 thesis on "The method of trigonometric sums and intermediate value theorems".



For a physics example (from my own university) I note George Uhlenbeck, who with Goudsmit introduced the electron spin in a 1925 publication, while his 1927 Ph.D. thesis on quantum statistics was much less influential. (Here is the story how two Ph.D. students discovered the electron spin, which was missed by a giant like Pauli.)






share|cite|improve this answer











$endgroup$





















    5












    $begingroup$

    I would contend that Claude Shannon's Master's thesis, "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" (1936) far overshadows his PhD thesis, "An Algebra for Theoretical Genetics" (1940). I'm not exactly sure how reliable Google Scholar citation counts are, but for what it's worth, it lists 1423 citations for the former and only 89 for the latter.



    EDITED TO ADD:



    While Alan Turing's PhD Thesis, "Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals" (1938), introduced the concept of ordinal logic and also oracle machines, I suggest that it barely compares to the impact of his earlier paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (1937).






    share|cite|improve this answer











    $endgroup$





















      0












      $begingroup$

      Solovay came up with his model of ZF in which all sets of reals are Lebesgue measurable in 1964, the same year that he defended his PhD thesis, which is on something else entirely (the Riemann-Roch theorem in differential geometry). I haven't been able to find an absolute statement that this was during his PhD, however.



      Also, aren't these questions usually community wiki?






      share|cite|improve this answer











      $endgroup$













      • $begingroup$
        It happened afterwards
        $endgroup$
        – Andrés E. Caicedo
        2 hours ago












      • $begingroup$
        @AndrésE.Caicedo Thanks for the correction. I'll leave the answer in case someone else matches the dates up and comes to a similar conclusion.
        $endgroup$
        – Robert Furber
        2 hours ago










      • $begingroup$
        To confirm what Robert is saying, Solovay writes in a footnote on the first page of his paper: "The main results of this paper were proved in March-July, 1964, and were presented at the July meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic at Bristol, England".
        $endgroup$
        – Dan Petersen
        1 hour ago












      Your Answer





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      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes








      3 Answers
      3






      active

      oldest

      votes









      active

      oldest

      votes






      active

      oldest

      votes









      6












      $begingroup$

      Anatoly Karatsuba discovered the
      Karatsuba algorithm in 1960, and reported it to Kolmogorov who published it under his (Karatsuba's) name without his knowledge. It seems fair to say that this first example of a "divide and conquer" algorithm eclipsed Karatsuba's 1966 thesis on "The method of trigonometric sums and intermediate value theorems".



      For a physics example (from my own university) I note George Uhlenbeck, who with Goudsmit introduced the electron spin in a 1925 publication, while his 1927 Ph.D. thesis on quantum statistics was much less influential. (Here is the story how two Ph.D. students discovered the electron spin, which was missed by a giant like Pauli.)






      share|cite|improve this answer











      $endgroup$


















        6












        $begingroup$

        Anatoly Karatsuba discovered the
        Karatsuba algorithm in 1960, and reported it to Kolmogorov who published it under his (Karatsuba's) name without his knowledge. It seems fair to say that this first example of a "divide and conquer" algorithm eclipsed Karatsuba's 1966 thesis on "The method of trigonometric sums and intermediate value theorems".



        For a physics example (from my own university) I note George Uhlenbeck, who with Goudsmit introduced the electron spin in a 1925 publication, while his 1927 Ph.D. thesis on quantum statistics was much less influential. (Here is the story how two Ph.D. students discovered the electron spin, which was missed by a giant like Pauli.)






        share|cite|improve this answer











        $endgroup$
















          6












          6








          6





          $begingroup$

          Anatoly Karatsuba discovered the
          Karatsuba algorithm in 1960, and reported it to Kolmogorov who published it under his (Karatsuba's) name without his knowledge. It seems fair to say that this first example of a "divide and conquer" algorithm eclipsed Karatsuba's 1966 thesis on "The method of trigonometric sums and intermediate value theorems".



          For a physics example (from my own university) I note George Uhlenbeck, who with Goudsmit introduced the electron spin in a 1925 publication, while his 1927 Ph.D. thesis on quantum statistics was much less influential. (Here is the story how two Ph.D. students discovered the electron spin, which was missed by a giant like Pauli.)






          share|cite|improve this answer











          $endgroup$



          Anatoly Karatsuba discovered the
          Karatsuba algorithm in 1960, and reported it to Kolmogorov who published it under his (Karatsuba's) name without his knowledge. It seems fair to say that this first example of a "divide and conquer" algorithm eclipsed Karatsuba's 1966 thesis on "The method of trigonometric sums and intermediate value theorems".



          For a physics example (from my own university) I note George Uhlenbeck, who with Goudsmit introduced the electron spin in a 1925 publication, while his 1927 Ph.D. thesis on quantum statistics was much less influential. (Here is the story how two Ph.D. students discovered the electron spin, which was missed by a giant like Pauli.)







          share|cite|improve this answer














          share|cite|improve this answer



          share|cite|improve this answer








          edited 2 hours ago


























          community wiki





          Carlo Beenakker
























              5












              $begingroup$

              I would contend that Claude Shannon's Master's thesis, "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" (1936) far overshadows his PhD thesis, "An Algebra for Theoretical Genetics" (1940). I'm not exactly sure how reliable Google Scholar citation counts are, but for what it's worth, it lists 1423 citations for the former and only 89 for the latter.



              EDITED TO ADD:



              While Alan Turing's PhD Thesis, "Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals" (1938), introduced the concept of ordinal logic and also oracle machines, I suggest that it barely compares to the impact of his earlier paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (1937).






              share|cite|improve this answer











              $endgroup$


















                5












                $begingroup$

                I would contend that Claude Shannon's Master's thesis, "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" (1936) far overshadows his PhD thesis, "An Algebra for Theoretical Genetics" (1940). I'm not exactly sure how reliable Google Scholar citation counts are, but for what it's worth, it lists 1423 citations for the former and only 89 for the latter.



                EDITED TO ADD:



                While Alan Turing's PhD Thesis, "Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals" (1938), introduced the concept of ordinal logic and also oracle machines, I suggest that it barely compares to the impact of his earlier paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (1937).






                share|cite|improve this answer











                $endgroup$
















                  5












                  5








                  5





                  $begingroup$

                  I would contend that Claude Shannon's Master's thesis, "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" (1936) far overshadows his PhD thesis, "An Algebra for Theoretical Genetics" (1940). I'm not exactly sure how reliable Google Scholar citation counts are, but for what it's worth, it lists 1423 citations for the former and only 89 for the latter.



                  EDITED TO ADD:



                  While Alan Turing's PhD Thesis, "Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals" (1938), introduced the concept of ordinal logic and also oracle machines, I suggest that it barely compares to the impact of his earlier paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (1937).






                  share|cite|improve this answer











                  $endgroup$



                  I would contend that Claude Shannon's Master's thesis, "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" (1936) far overshadows his PhD thesis, "An Algebra for Theoretical Genetics" (1940). I'm not exactly sure how reliable Google Scholar citation counts are, but for what it's worth, it lists 1423 citations for the former and only 89 for the latter.



                  EDITED TO ADD:



                  While Alan Turing's PhD Thesis, "Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals" (1938), introduced the concept of ordinal logic and also oracle machines, I suggest that it barely compares to the impact of his earlier paper, "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (1937).







                  share|cite|improve this answer














                  share|cite|improve this answer



                  share|cite|improve this answer








                  edited 1 hour ago


























                  community wiki





                  3 revs
                  mhum
























                      0












                      $begingroup$

                      Solovay came up with his model of ZF in which all sets of reals are Lebesgue measurable in 1964, the same year that he defended his PhD thesis, which is on something else entirely (the Riemann-Roch theorem in differential geometry). I haven't been able to find an absolute statement that this was during his PhD, however.



                      Also, aren't these questions usually community wiki?






                      share|cite|improve this answer











                      $endgroup$













                      • $begingroup$
                        It happened afterwards
                        $endgroup$
                        – Andrés E. Caicedo
                        2 hours ago












                      • $begingroup$
                        @AndrésE.Caicedo Thanks for the correction. I'll leave the answer in case someone else matches the dates up and comes to a similar conclusion.
                        $endgroup$
                        – Robert Furber
                        2 hours ago










                      • $begingroup$
                        To confirm what Robert is saying, Solovay writes in a footnote on the first page of his paper: "The main results of this paper were proved in March-July, 1964, and were presented at the July meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic at Bristol, England".
                        $endgroup$
                        – Dan Petersen
                        1 hour ago
















                      0












                      $begingroup$

                      Solovay came up with his model of ZF in which all sets of reals are Lebesgue measurable in 1964, the same year that he defended his PhD thesis, which is on something else entirely (the Riemann-Roch theorem in differential geometry). I haven't been able to find an absolute statement that this was during his PhD, however.



                      Also, aren't these questions usually community wiki?






                      share|cite|improve this answer











                      $endgroup$













                      • $begingroup$
                        It happened afterwards
                        $endgroup$
                        – Andrés E. Caicedo
                        2 hours ago












                      • $begingroup$
                        @AndrésE.Caicedo Thanks for the correction. I'll leave the answer in case someone else matches the dates up and comes to a similar conclusion.
                        $endgroup$
                        – Robert Furber
                        2 hours ago










                      • $begingroup$
                        To confirm what Robert is saying, Solovay writes in a footnote on the first page of his paper: "The main results of this paper were proved in March-July, 1964, and were presented at the July meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic at Bristol, England".
                        $endgroup$
                        – Dan Petersen
                        1 hour ago














                      0












                      0








                      0





                      $begingroup$

                      Solovay came up with his model of ZF in which all sets of reals are Lebesgue measurable in 1964, the same year that he defended his PhD thesis, which is on something else entirely (the Riemann-Roch theorem in differential geometry). I haven't been able to find an absolute statement that this was during his PhD, however.



                      Also, aren't these questions usually community wiki?






                      share|cite|improve this answer











                      $endgroup$



                      Solovay came up with his model of ZF in which all sets of reals are Lebesgue measurable in 1964, the same year that he defended his PhD thesis, which is on something else entirely (the Riemann-Roch theorem in differential geometry). I haven't been able to find an absolute statement that this was during his PhD, however.



                      Also, aren't these questions usually community wiki?







                      share|cite|improve this answer














                      share|cite|improve this answer



                      share|cite|improve this answer








                      answered 2 hours ago


























                      community wiki





                      Robert Furber













                      • $begingroup$
                        It happened afterwards
                        $endgroup$
                        – Andrés E. Caicedo
                        2 hours ago












                      • $begingroup$
                        @AndrésE.Caicedo Thanks for the correction. I'll leave the answer in case someone else matches the dates up and comes to a similar conclusion.
                        $endgroup$
                        – Robert Furber
                        2 hours ago










                      • $begingroup$
                        To confirm what Robert is saying, Solovay writes in a footnote on the first page of his paper: "The main results of this paper were proved in March-July, 1964, and were presented at the July meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic at Bristol, England".
                        $endgroup$
                        – Dan Petersen
                        1 hour ago


















                      • $begingroup$
                        It happened afterwards
                        $endgroup$
                        – Andrés E. Caicedo
                        2 hours ago












                      • $begingroup$
                        @AndrésE.Caicedo Thanks for the correction. I'll leave the answer in case someone else matches the dates up and comes to a similar conclusion.
                        $endgroup$
                        – Robert Furber
                        2 hours ago










                      • $begingroup$
                        To confirm what Robert is saying, Solovay writes in a footnote on the first page of his paper: "The main results of this paper were proved in March-July, 1964, and were presented at the July meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic at Bristol, England".
                        $endgroup$
                        – Dan Petersen
                        1 hour ago
















                      $begingroup$
                      It happened afterwards
                      $endgroup$
                      – Andrés E. Caicedo
                      2 hours ago






                      $begingroup$
                      It happened afterwards
                      $endgroup$
                      – Andrés E. Caicedo
                      2 hours ago














                      $begingroup$
                      @AndrésE.Caicedo Thanks for the correction. I'll leave the answer in case someone else matches the dates up and comes to a similar conclusion.
                      $endgroup$
                      – Robert Furber
                      2 hours ago




                      $begingroup$
                      @AndrésE.Caicedo Thanks for the correction. I'll leave the answer in case someone else matches the dates up and comes to a similar conclusion.
                      $endgroup$
                      – Robert Furber
                      2 hours ago












                      $begingroup$
                      To confirm what Robert is saying, Solovay writes in a footnote on the first page of his paper: "The main results of this paper were proved in March-July, 1964, and were presented at the July meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic at Bristol, England".
                      $endgroup$
                      – Dan Petersen
                      1 hour ago




                      $begingroup$
                      To confirm what Robert is saying, Solovay writes in a footnote on the first page of his paper: "The main results of this paper were proved in March-July, 1964, and were presented at the July meeting of the Association for Symbolic Logic at Bristol, England".
                      $endgroup$
                      – Dan Petersen
                      1 hour ago


















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