2025 MacArthur Fellows | Hacker News Reader

2025 MacArthur Fellows

macfound.org

57 pointsbookofjoe37 comments

One of my old math professors — Lauren Williams — got one! What a pleasant surprise. She was a delight to study under and an inspiration; I'm glad that she got recognized in an avenue like this.

What does she work on? Can you explain to non-math people why her work is interesting/cool? Would also love to see more comments from people familiar with the other genius grantees' works filling us in on "here's what they do and why it's cool."

"Uncovering transformative connections between algebraic combinatorics and problems in other areas of math and physics."

https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2025/lauren-k-will...

Yeah! Lauren is the best.

Almost all copies of the critical biography of John MacArthur, "The Stockholder", have disappeared. The Library of Congress' one copy is stored offsite. The New York Public Library's copy is still available for on-site reading. But there's still a used paperback on Amazon for $149.

Now that's a successful cover-up.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Stockholder-William-Hoffman/dp/B0006B...

117 in libraries: https://search.worldcat.org/title/1068506288

Ah, Worldcat is back up. Stanford Libraries have a copy.

Destroying all copies of a critical biography is a recurring theme in the novel Trust.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_(novel)

$12 here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155399954450?_skw=the+stockholder+w...

I just bought it.

It's a 55-year-old book about a businessman who was modestly famous in his lifetime and now is pretty much unknown. Was it some mega-hit at the time? If not, then <10K were ever printed. How many do you expect to still be floating around vs. being in landfill? How many people do you think are clamoring for a copy at their local library? FWIW, you can buy one on eBay right now for ~$15.

> a businessman who was modestly famous in his lifetime and now is pretty much unknown.

This is quite an understament about who John MacArthur was and what is impact and legacy has been. You're talking about a guy whose name appears in multiple US history textbooks.

I haven't read that biography, so I can't speak to it, but I wouldn't call him "pretty much unknown".

This is about John Donald MacArthur https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._MacArthur. From reading the wikipedia article I wouldn't know why he would appear in US history textbooks.

I'd hazard to guess that most of the names (by volume) which appear in history textbooks are pretty much unknown. Who knows, maybe I'm just one of today's lucky 10,000 - but this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone actually talk about this guy.

I have heard "MacArthur Fellows" before, so to me this is a bit like the only reason I can tell you Alfred Nobel invented dynamite is because people mention it in connection with the Nobel prize - so maybe they both succeeded in the end!

You can get a fair condition used hardback for $65 or a good one for $83 on Abebooks.

> Almost all copies of the critical biography of John MacArthur, "The Stockholder", have disappeared.

After an intense 30 second investigation into this mystery, I have discovered a physical copy on campus at UCLA. Do I dare check it out?

> Now that's a successful cover-up.

You seem to have only sent one small piece of evidence for your claim.

Is it possible that you are keeping the rest of the pieces of evidence together so you can send them all at once, for the sake of efficiency?

If so, please send them now that I've acknowledged receipt of the first small piece of evidence. :)

I love that these grants go to such an incredible variety of impressive folk—from music to astrophysics.

One of the works:

> In early work, El-Badry developed a method for identifying binary stars in spectrographic datasets. More than half of stars exist in binary systems, but they are often too close together to be differentiated with available technology. El-Badry overcame this challenge through targeted statistical analysis of existing spectral data.

Another

> Porras-Kim selected fragmented objects of unknown origins from the storage shelves of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, whose collections span the arts and cultures of Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Indigenous Americas. Her resulting installation, entitled Reconstructions, brought together the artifacts with drawings and sculptures that prompted viewers to consider how the textile fragments, pottery shards, and other orphaned objects functioned and came to be acquired by the museum.

Hahrie was my neighbor for many years! She's amazing. Completely deserved.

800,000$ over 5 years! :-O For an artist that's like winning the lottery.

I am so happy something like this is making the front page. Its a great thing.

Wow Madison, WI got 2!

They're both professors at the University of Wisconsin.

"As of March 2023, 20 Nobel laureates, 41 Pulitzer Prize winners, 2 Fields medalists, and 1 Turing Award recipient have been affiliated with UW–Madison as alumni, faculty, or researchers. It is also a leading producer of Fulbright Scholars and MacArthur Fellows." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin–Madiso...

Not exactly the most impressive set of people

Who would you have recommended?

Just an observation, but I've noticed that the white people of "elite" distinction have a preponderance of unusual surnames. I have noticed this having grown up working class, then attending both an elite/non-elite universities and then working at both elite and non-elite employers. Given the hereditary nature of most white surnames, it's thought provoking to think that one's eliteness was predestined hundreds of years ago, even in a society such as ours.

I'm a fan of nominative determinism as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure what you're referring to, exactly? None of the surnames here strike me as particularly unusual.

Not sure what you mean here, but you know, you can change your last name if you want to. It's not uncommon to change your surname to a prestige name if you want.

It is quite uncommon.

Historically it's not uncommon. An easy example is Nguyen. The British isles are another great example, of nobility and upward movers, adapting the most advantageous surname, hence all those long lived Norman names. Also, all the the angle-saxon strivers that adapted Norman names after the conquest.

Not sure why you're being downvoted, this has actually been studied and the broader historical data matches your observations:

https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691162546/th...

Funny-sounding elite names in English-speaking countries are often Norman or Huguenot in origin.

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