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Speaking of SVD doctors, I heard many years ago (from Alan Edelman) that Gene Golub's license plate used to be "DR SVD". Later he switched to "PROF SVD".

I couldn't confirm the DR SVD part, but the PROF SVD story appears to be real: https://www.mathworks.com/company/newsletters/articles/profe...

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As I recall the Dr SVD was the license on his second car. He once left the car at SFO airport and when he heard I was flying in, he asked me to drive it to his house (keys under the seat!) What he didn't tell me was that it was a "stick shift" and I only once before had a friend teach me how that works. After driving around San Francisco for Gene I got better at it, but it was definitely scary at times. :-)

I heard something very similar from some of his very close (ex-)colleagues, so it appears to be true :)

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