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Eric Weinstein

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Eric Ross Weinstein
Eric Weinstein
Born1965
Los Angeles
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania,
Harvard University
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics, Physics, Economics, Finance, Public Policy

Eric Weinstein (born Los Angeles, October 1965) is a mathematician and economist who, in May 2013 proposed a solution to some of the problems in modern physics. His theory included an "observerse", a 14-dimensional space, and predictions for undiscovered particles which could account for dark matter.

Education

He earned a 1992 Ph.D [1] in Mathematical Physics from the Mathematics Department of Harvard University and has since held a Lady Davis Fellowship in the Racah Institute of Physics at Hebrew University, an NSF fellowship in the mathematics Department of MIT, and was an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grantee in the Harvard Economics Department and National Bureau for Economic Research where he founded the Project on the Economics of Advanced Training with economist Richard Freeman. He graduated in his Junior year with combined A.B. and M.A. degrees in mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania as University Scholar in 1985.

Contributions

Economic theory

Along with collaborator Pia Malaney, Weinstein showed that neoclassical economics was in fact an example of a naturally occurring gauge theory. This discovery paralleled a similar such discovery linking mathematics to physics by Chen Ning Yang, and collaborators at Stony Brook in the 1970s. The approach has been separately discussed from viewpoints in both the economics and physics literature but has yet to gain a wider awareness with few academicians possessing backgrounds in both physics and economics. Recently, a program for 'Geometric Marginalism' [2] by Weinstein and Malaney has been funded by the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET).[3][4][5][6]

Finance

Weinstein and collaborator Adil Abdulali published a paper in Risk[7] introducing a model for risk adjustment of hedge fund returns when multiple noisy price estimates are available for positions. This is in contrast to positions with precise pricing, such as liquid common stocks or futures contracts, on the one hand, and assets with no reliable market prices, such as private equity or real estate, on the other. According to the authors, if risk analysis is done using a single price (such as the median price) for such "translucent" positions, the risk adjusted returns of the fund will be inflated. The model presented in the paper is based on certainty equivalents in the von Neumann Morgenstern risk framework.

Financial Crisis

Due in part to his work in finance and economics described above, in 2002 Weinstein began giving talks aimed at mathematicians and physicists calling attention to what he perceived as instabilities in the financial system, professional forces repressing unorthodox views in economics and finance (and to a lesser extent in academia in general) and the need for more sophisticated mathematics in finance. Talks in May 2006 and September 2008 at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics were particularly influential.[8]

Labor markets for elite workers

Weinstein and collaborator Richard Freeman conducted an extensive study relying on unprecedented access to leading biomedical scientists through the American Society for Cell Biology.[9][10]

Mathematical physics

Weinstein claimed in his dissertation research that the self-dual Yang–Mills equations on which Donaldson theory was built were less unique than was believed at the time, putting forward two sets of alternate equations based on spinorial constructions. One set of equations became the basis for his dissertation showing that the Self-dual Yang–Mills (SDYM) equations were not really peculiar to dimension four and admitted generalizations to higher dimensions.[11]

In May 2013 Weinstein gave a lecture titled Geometric Unity, which was promoted by Marcus du Sautoy as being a possible answer to some of the problems in modern physics.[12] Few physicists attended the original lecture and no paper or preprint was published. The claims were met with skepticism by several commentators.[13][14] A repeat lecture was organised the following week with more physicists in attendance. His theory include a "observerse", a 14-dimensional space, and predictions for undiscovered particles which could account for dark matter. Joseph Conlon of the University of Oxford pointed out that some of these particles should already have been seen.[15]

Science policy

Weinstein has been invited several times to argue before the National Academy of Sciences that it and the National Science Foundation have deliberately sought to glut the market for scientists to decrease wage outlays for scientific and technical employers.[16][17]

Talks

The Economic Crisis and its Implications for the Science of Economics May 1–4, 2009 (Conference) Member: International Organizing Committee Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Keynote Address: A Science Less Dismal Panel Discussion (with Nouriel Roubini, Nassim Taleb, Richard Freeman. Moderator Lee Smolin) Videos: "http://pirsa.org/09050047/", "http://pirsa.org/09050026/"

Systems Architecture, Kabuki Capitalism, and the Economic Manhattan Project. Stanford University Computer Systems (Invited Colloquium and Debate), April 29, 2009 Stanford University, Palo Alto, California Invited Debating Partner: Paul Romer (Declined) Video: "http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/Abstracts/090429.html"

Sheldon Glashow Owes Me a Dollar (and 17 Years of Interest): What happens where the endless frontier meets the efficient frontier? Science in the 21st Century (Conference) September 6–9, 2008, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Panel Discussion: Scientific Utopia - Designing Research Environments to Catalyze Scientific Progress Video: "http://pirsa.org/08090036/"

Gauge Theory and Inflation: Enlarging the Wu-Yang Dictionary to a unifying Rosetta Stone for Geometry in Application Invited Colloquium, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics May 24, 2006, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Video: "http://pirsa.org/06050010/"

References

  1. ^ Thesis (PH.D.) --Harvard University, 1992. Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section B, page: 5761
  2. ^ "Geometric Marginalism". Ineteconomics.org. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  3. ^ Balk, Bert M. (May 2005). "Divisia price and quantity indices: 80 years after". Statistica Neerlandica. 59 (2): 119–158. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9574.2005.00284.x. ISSN 1467-9574.
  4. ^ "Lee Smolin on general equilibrium theory". Marginalrevolution.com. 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  5. ^ "Economics focus: The price of entry". The Economist. 2010-06-24. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  6. ^ "Annual Hayek Memorial Lecture 2010 - Prof Gary Becker". Iea.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  7. ^ Weinstein, Eric; Abdulali, Adil (June 2002). "Hedge fund transparency: quantifying valuation bias for illiquid assets" (PDF). RISK. 15 (6): S25–S28.
  8. ^ Weatherall, James Owen The Physics of Wall Street. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (January 2, 2013), ISBN 978-0547317274
  9. ^ Freeman, Richard B; Eric Weinstein; Elizabeth Marincola; Janet Rosenbaum; Frank Solomon (June 2001). "Careers and Rewards in Bio Sciences: the disconnect between scientific progress and career progression" (PDF).
  10. ^ Freeman, Richard; et al. "Competition and Careers In Biosciences". Science. 294 (5550): 2293–2294. doi:10.1126/science.1067477. ISSN 0036-8075.
  11. ^ Beaulieu, Laurent; Kanno, Hiroaki; Singer, I. M. "Special Quantum Field Theories In Eight And Other Dimensions". Communications in Mathematical Physics. 194 (1). Berlin: Springer-Verlag: 149–175. arXiv:hep-th/9704167v2. doi:10.1007/s002200050353. ISSN 0010-3616.
  12. ^ Marcus du Sautoy (23 May 2013). "Eric Weinstein may have found the answer to physics' biggest problems". Guardian. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  13. ^ Andrew Pontzen (31 May 2013) [24 May 2013]. "Weinstein's theory of everything is probably nothing". New Scientist. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  14. ^ Peter Woit (28 May 2013). "A Tale of Two Oxford Talks". Not Even Wrong. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  15. ^ Jacob Aron (31 May 2013). "How to test Weinstein's provocative theory of everything". New Scientist.
  16. ^ Matloff, Norman. "Debunking the Myth of a Desperate Software Labor Shortage, Testimony to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration". Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  17. ^ Forecasting Demand and Supply of Doctoral Scientists and Engineers: Report of a Workshop on Methodology. National Research Council. 2000. ISBN 978-0-309-07089-8.

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