Θάλαττα, θάλαττα

Cape Sounion sunset (under CC licence, by stylianosm on flickr)

And as a bonus for the mathematically enclined, here’s a stunning fractal hand by glennkarlsen on flickr too (I’m not including it here as it’s copyrighted unfortunately).

an Arxiv rare event

In the past week, the math arxiv has seen both a preprint dated june 7  by Akhil Mathew, probably one of the youngest posters there (if not the youngest), and another dated june 12 by Jean-pierre Serre, probably one of the oldest posters there (if not the oldest). Now that’s noticeable!  🙂

V.I. Arnold

The sad news has spread that Vladimir I. Arnold has died in Paris, today 3 june 2010.

(image credit: MCCME, Moscow)

Beyond being one of the foremost mathematicians of the XXth century, with many deep and subtly technical results in a wide range of topics, he also inspired countless mathematicians and youngsters, either directly through his lectures (as recently as last summer in Moscow at MCCME), or indirectly through his numerous excellent textbooks and treatises.

RIP