

John Horton Conway: the world’s most charismatic mathematician - chwolfe
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jul/23/john-horton-conway-the-most-charismatic-mathematician-in-the-world

======
trcollinson
The discussion of curiosity driven discovery in mathematics, especially
applied mathematics, is quite good here. I wonder what that sort of curiosity
driven experience would do within a software developer environment. In a lot
of ways I develop a lot of code, even production code, using a curiosity and
more artistic method to getting to a solution. However, project management
doesn't seem to want to allow for that sort of discovery as we're writing
software. They want solid estimates and firm commitments. It's unfortunate. A
lot of good comes from curiosity.

Also, a fabulous article on a brilliant mathematian. A great read!

------
gus_massa
Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9963670](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9963670)
(123 points, 8 days ago, 29 comments)

