Introducing Privatdozent

New name, same newsletter

What is happening?

I changed the name of the newsletter this morning, from Cantor’s Paradise to Privatdozent:

Privatdozent is a weekly newsletter on the history of mathematics and physics, written by @jorgenveisdal. Follow: Twitter and Facebook.

Why is it happening?

I changed the name for three reasons:

• Cantor’s Paradise (CP, the previous name) is a separate publication written specifically for subscribers of Medium, featuring essays from over 150 different authors and a wide range of math-related topics;

• The Privatdozent newsletter is, and will remain, solely written by myself and only feature essays on the history of mathematics and physics;

• There was confusion among some subscribers about access to CP essays on Medium and through Substack, respectively. To clarify this, the two entities are now separate and distinct;

What does Privatdozent mean?

A Privatdozent (for men) or Privatdozentin (for women) was an academic title commonly used in Germany and Prussia in the 18th, 19th and 20th century. Informally, the title referred to a lecturer who received fees from his students rather than a university salary.

Recommendations

The five most popular essays to date are currently:

• “Ramanujan’s First Letter to G.H. Hardy” (2020)

• “Oppenheimer’s Letter of Recommendation for Richard Feynman” (2020)

• “John von Nemann’s Minimax Theorem” (2021)

• “Gödel’s Solution to Einstein’s Field Equations" (2021)

• “When Wiener met Einstein” (2021)

Thank you, as always, for subscribing.

Best,

Jørgen.