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Elizabeth Lovegrove @GravityAndLight

Astrophysics post-doc at LANL. Metropolis Fellow, journeyman starsmith, FORTRAN archaeologist. Stuck on this planet. I blow up stars for a living.

Joined February 2013
  • Tweets 598
  • Following 38
  • Followers 166
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I am ready for this game where you get to be a librarian.
Weather Factory
@weatherfactory
27 Aug 2019
GIVEAWAY TIME! win a Friendly Skeletal Companion™, occult notebooks and grimoire USBs. ✨ share this tweet and follow @factoryweather to enter! ✨ full rules and FAQ here: buff.ly/2Zp5Phn ★ 7 DAYS TO GO! #BOOKOFHOURS #kickstarter ★ bit.ly/2JCKVEH ★
tl;dr Academic pure math culture needs a huge overhaul that it can't do on its own b/c the field self-selects for its own problems. (16/16)
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And thus the cult of absurd genius/insane, hyperfocused sacrifice and competition is perpetuated unto the next student generation. (15/?)
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Until the only ones left are either so absurdly gifted or so ludicrously dedicated that they can bear up under unreasonable pressure. (14/?)
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...shows up in a lot of academic fields, but is particularly brutal & overriding in pure math. It drives away even the most talented. (13/?)
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And if you aren't satisfied with academia, then you aren't a "true" mathematician who would endure anything. It's an attitude that... (12/?)
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The fact that effort & loyalty demands of high-tier tech appeal more than those of pure math academia should tell you everything. (11/?)
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Why are so many brilliant pure mathematicians working at Google, Amazon, etc.? Many times, it's b/c they were forced out of academia. (10/?)
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This is not me guessing. I saw it happen firsthand. Top-tier math departments will burn out even the sharpest of mathematical minds. (9/?)
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Grades rule all (including grad & faculty selection). Students actively sabotage each other. Being wrong means being a lesser person. (8/?)
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Applied math suffers a bit less, but high-level pure math culture is pervaded by hypercompetition, hypermasculinity, and cultish zeal. (7/?)
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But the truth is *nobody needs to make those sacrifices*. The entire math culture at high-level universities is incredibly shitty. (6/?)
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Hence, women are discouraged from pursuing high-level pure math by people who don't even realize they're buying into sexist behavior. (5/?)
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Thanks to good ole gender stereotypes (nurture/family/etc) women are seen as less competitive & less willing to make those sacrifices. (4/?)
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...people who tend towards hyperfocus. This results in a hypercompetitive ideal of devoting yourself completely to math. (3/?)
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"Pure math" is indeed seen as more of a "calling" than a field of study. It's a discipline that rewards hyperfocus and so attracts... (2/?)
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Gender imbalance in pure math is a symptom of a larger culture of hypercompetition & demand for cultish zeal. (1/?) thecrimson.com/article/2017/…

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I have some Thoughts about the recent Crimson article talking about gender problems at Harvard's math department. Prepare for thread.
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IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU JOKE ABOUT x.com/AstroKatie/status/9214…

Katie Mack
@AstroKatie
20 Oct 2017
Love this: Dave Coulter (grad) texting Ryan Foley (prof) re #NeutronStar #LIGO discovery x.com/ucsc/status/9200188507… via @ucsc @ucsctransients
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The cache is live!! Come find it in this spot and take it far away! First to South Pole wins! #MTGXLN #MTGGeocachers
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