[HN Gopher] 2025 MacArthur Fellows
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2025 MacArthur Fellows
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 42 points
Date : 2025-10-09 18:25 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.macfound.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.macfound.org)
| oatsandsugar wrote:
| I love that these grants go to such an incredible variety of
| impressive folk--from music to astrophysics.
| oatsandsugar wrote:
| One of the works:
|
| > In early work, El-Badry developed a method for identifying
| binary stars in spectrographic datasets. More than half of
| stars exist in binary systems, but they are often too close
| together to be differentiated with available technology. El-
| Badry overcame this challenge through targeted statistical
| analysis of existing spectral data.
|
| Another
|
| > Porras-Kim selected fragmented objects of unknown origins
| from the storage shelves of the Fowler Museum at UCLA, whose
| collections span the arts and cultures of Africa, Asia, the
| Pacific, and the Indigenous Americas. Her resulting
| installation, entitled Reconstructions, brought together the
| artifacts with drawings and sculptures that prompted viewers to
| consider how the textile fragments, pottery shards, and other
| orphaned objects functioned and came to be acquired by the
| museum.
| Animats wrote:
| Almost all copies of the critical biography of John MacArthur,
| "The Stockholder", have disappeared. The Library of Congress' one
| copy is stored offsite. The New York Public Library's copy is
| still available for on-site reading. But there's still a used
| paperback on Amazon for $149.
|
| Now that's a successful cover-up.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/Stockholder-William-
| Hoffman/dp/B0006B...
| sanj wrote:
| 117 in libraries: https://search.worldcat.org/title/1068506288
| jacobolus wrote:
| You can get a fair condition used hardback for $65 or a good
| one for $83 on Abebooks.
| allturtles wrote:
| It's a 55-year-old book about a businessman who was modestly
| famous in his lifetime and now is pretty much unknown. Was it
| some mega-hit at the time? If not, then <10K were ever printed.
| How many do you expect to still be floating around vs. being in
| landfill? How many people do you think are clamoring for a copy
| at their local library? FWIW, you can buy one on eBay right now
| for ~$15.
| chimeracoder wrote:
| > a businessman who was modestly famous in his lifetime and
| now is pretty much unknown.
|
| This is _quite_ an understament about who John MacArthur was
| and what is impact and legacy has been. You 're talking about
| a guy whose name appears in multiple US history textbooks.
|
| I haven't read that biography, so I can't speak to it, but I
| wouldn't call him "pretty much unknown".
| zamadatix wrote:
| I'd hazard to guess that most of the names (by volume)
| which appear in history textbooks are pretty much unknown.
| Who knows, maybe I'm just one of today's lucky 10,000 - but
| this is the first time I've ever heard of anyone actually
| talk about this guy.
|
| I have heard "MacArthur Fellows" before, so to me this is a
| bit like the only reason I can tell you Alfred Nobel
| invented dynamite is because people mention it in
| connection with the Nobel prize - so maybe they both
| succeeded in the end!
| spacechild1 wrote:
| This is about John Donald MacArthur
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._MacArthur. From
| reading the wikipedia article I wouldn't know why he would
| appear in US history textbooks.
| runako wrote:
| Destroying all copies of a critical biography is a recurring
| theme in the novel Trust.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_(novel)
| bookofjoe wrote:
| $12 here:
| https://www.ebay.com/itm/155399954450?_skw=the+stockholder+w...
| bookofjoe wrote:
| I just bought it.
| jancsika wrote:
| > Almost all copies of the critical biography of John
| MacArthur, "The Stockholder", have disappeared.
|
| After an intense 30 second investigation into this mystery, I
| have discovered a physical copy on campus at UCLA. Do I dare
| check it out?
|
| > Now that's a successful cover-up.
|
| You seem to have only sent one small piece of evidence for your
| claim.
|
| Is it possible that you are keeping the rest of the pieces of
| evidence together so you can send them all at once, for the
| sake of efficiency?
|
| If so, please send them now that I've acknowledged receipt of
| the first small piece of evidence. :)
| sanj wrote:
| Hahrie was my neighbor for many years! She's amazing. Completely
| deserved.
| gcy wrote:
| Wow Madison, WI got 2!
| lapcat wrote:
| They're both professors at the University of Wisconsin.
|
| "As of March 2023, 20 Nobel laureates, 41 Pulitzer Prize
| winners, 2 Fields medalists, and 1 Turing Award recipient have
| been affiliated with UW-Madison as alumni, faculty, or
| researchers. It is also a leading producer of Fulbright
| Scholars and MacArthur Fellows."
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin-Madiso...
| georgeburdell wrote:
| Just an observation, but I've noticed that the white people of
| "elite" distinction have a preponderance of unusual surnames. I
| have noticed this having grown up working class, then attending
| both an elite/non-elite universities and then working at both
| elite and non-elite employers. Given the hereditary nature of
| most white surnames, it's thought provoking to think that one's
| eliteness was predestined hundreds of years ago, even in a
| society such as ours.
| paleotrope wrote:
| Not sure what you mean here, but you know, you can change your
| last name if you want to. It's not uncommon to change your
| surname to a prestige name if you want.
| _dain_ wrote:
| It is quite uncommon.
| mrandjsjs wrote:
| JANNY SHUT IT DOWN
| daseiner1 wrote:
| I'm a fan of nominative determinism as much as the next guy,
| but I'm not sure what you're referring to, exactly? None of the
| surnames here strike me as particularly unusual.
| _dain_ wrote:
| Not sure why you're being downvoted, this has actually been
| studied and the broader historical data matches your
| observations:
|
| https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691162546/th...
|
| Funny-sounding elite names in English-speaking countries are
| often Norman or Huguenot in origin.
| spacechild1 wrote:
| 800,000$ over 5 years! :-O For an artist that's like winning the
| lottery.
| djsavvy wrote:
| One of my old math professors -- Lauren Williams -- got one! What
| a pleasant surprise. She was a delight to study under and an
| inspiration; I'm glad that she got recognized in an avenue like
| this.
| Q6T46nT668w6i3m wrote:
| Yeah! Lauren is the best.
| levocardia wrote:
| What does she work on? Can you explain to non-math people why
| her work is interesting/cool? Would also love to see more
| comments from people familiar with the other genius grantees'
| works filling us in on "here's what they do and why it's cool."
| kurtis_reed wrote:
| Not exactly the most impressive set of people
| mhb wrote:
| Their bar is not uniformly high:
| https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2015/ta-nehisi-coa...
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