kokotg Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 In honor of the great Hank Aaron, here's a Numberphile episode featuring my father-in-law, talking about how Hank Aaron is indirectly responsible for his career in number theory. For anyone who's at all interested in both math and baseball--the math in it is pretty accessible: https://www.numberphile.com/videos/aaron-numbers If you don't have time to watch the video, my FIL is a number theorist, and early on in his career Hank Aaron hit his 715th homerun to beat Babe Ruth's record of 714...my FIL wrote a paper, not a very serious one, about some interesting quirks about 714 and 715, and it caught the attention of mathematician Paul Erdos. Who then visited him and collaborated on a paper with him and then many more papers, which had a huge impact on his career. And then years later he and Erdos both ended up at an event that also had Hank Aaron in attendance, and he ended up with a baseball signed by both Paul Erdos and Hank Aaron. We came pretty close to naming a baby Henry/Hank a couple of times partially in honor of Hank Aaron...it's more or less a family name, really 😉 12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Loved it! I had the best professor for Number Theory in college. Fond memories. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junie Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 That was really fascinating. Thanks for sharing!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Wow! That’s quite impressive. Your FIL has an Erdos number 1!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted January 23, 2021 Author Share Posted January 23, 2021 8 minutes ago, Lilaclady said: Wow! That’s quite impressive. Your FIL has an Erdos number 1!! He does! And he's the only reason I have any idea what an Erdos number is 😂. But, yeah, my husband grew up with Paul Erdos staying at their house regularly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 (edited) @kokotgWhat a small world we live in! Our family attended a Math Talk given by your FIL at Santa Clara University ("The First Function") just before the Covid SIP happened. It was one of the last public outings we undertook. He is a great speaker and we enjoyed his talk a lot! ETA: Just saw the news that Aaron has passed away Edited January 23, 2021 by mathnerd 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 Wow, that's impressive! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 What a neat story! Thank you for sharing! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen A Posted January 23, 2021 Share Posted January 23, 2021 So fun! Thanks for sharing that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted January 23, 2021 Author Share Posted January 23, 2021 9 hours ago, mathnerd said: @kokotgWhat a small world we live in! Our family attended a Math Talk given by your FIL at Santa Clara University ("The First Function") just before the Covid SIP happened. It was one of the last public outings we undertook. He is a great speaker and we enjoyed his talk a lot! ETA: Just saw the news that Aaron has passed away how cool! Yes, we were pretty worried last spring that he kept taking the train in to teach a class--but nothing keeps Grandpa away from math 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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