ICM is held in a fairly remote conference center near the airport. The organizers had the good sense of not recommending the hotels next to the conference center but rather a number of hotels midway between there and the city center, so one can get to the conference with a short subway ride and also not be in the middle of nowhere. The recommended hotels, however, were still quite out of the way, and, by the information I found online, they sounded big and anonymous. So I got a reservation in a nice smaller hotel that is not far from Plaza Real and other touristic attractions, and it is also in what seems one of the cool neighborhoods, with a lot of bars and restaurants, including many gay bars. It takes, unfortunately, a good 45 minutes by subway to reach the conference center.
So this afternoon, as I was checking in at the hotel, being very proud of my choice, wearing an A&F shirt, faded jeans and Kenneth Cole shoes, and feeling as non-nerdy as I can get, the person behind me in line waves hello and asks: “Are you here for ICM too?”
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August 21, 2006 at 11:17 pm
Anonymous
Maybe the person recognized you from your excellent work on complixity and was trying to make conversation?
August 22, 2006 at 3:52 am
NY 10009
no, it’s the picture on the blog
August 22, 2006 at 10:04 am
Anonymous
Breaking News:
Perelman “Declined to recieve the Field Medal”.
August 22, 2006 at 10:09 am
Anonymous
Breaking News:
Jon Kleinberg won the Nevanlinna Prize.
The first question is:
Who the heck is he?
August 22, 2006 at 11:25 am
Luca Aceto
A press release from ICM 2006 confirms that Jon Kleinberg has in fact won the Nevanlinna prize—see http://www.icm2006.org/press/releases/. For information on his work, look at
http://www.icm2006.org/dailynews/nevannlina_kleinberg_info_en.pdf
He also got a MacArthur “genius” award.
Fields medals go to Perelman and Tao (very much expected, I guess). The other two Fields medal winners are Andrei Okounkov (Princeton) and Wendelin Werner (Paris 11 and ENS).
August 22, 2006 at 2:20 pm
Scott
When I arrive early at a conference hotel, I often end up playing the game of “spot the fellow nerd.” In general, it’s extremely easy to tell, no matter how well the nerds try to disguise themselves.
August 22, 2006 at 9:29 pm
Peter Woit
A low point in my life many years agow was when I arrived in the Salt Lake City airport on my way to a workshop in Park City, and someone came up to me in the baggage claim area, saying “you must be here for the workshop..”
November 9, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Lisas-rLh
I think you have a cool blog. I have several blogs of my own. Visit my blog site about making a conference call.