When I first started working at MIT, back in the '80s, our writing department had a joint cocktail party with the Harvard writing department. It was kind of oil-and-water.
There are many benefits to having interesting friends on Facebook. In my case, given that fellow academics constitute a sizable portion of my online friends, I am at times privy to shared studies that I might otherwise miss (or perhaps only identify at some future date).
Cory Booker I've known since 1993. We used to be part of the L'Chaim Society at Oxford University together.
My scientific career has developed on three continents: Asia, Europe and North America.
As I say, there was this movement to try to bring philosophers and mathematicians together into an organization where they would talk to each other. An organization wasn't effective unless you had a journal. That's about all I know.
One of the best highlights of my Harvard business program I attended was I had 60 students in my class. I was the tallest, of course, but looking at the students, 30 of them were American and 30 of them were from all over the world.
I joined an Internet community of Victorian scholars, which meant that if I posted a question about 1875's lavender harvest, more than a thousand experts would ponder it.
I was close with some of my old professors.
I am delighted to have had students, friends and colleagues in so many nations and to have learned so much of what I know from them. This Nobel Award honours them all.
I think also of my colleagues in elementary particle theory in many lands, and feel that in some measure I am here as a representative of our small, informal, international fraternity.
