I just came across “’05 Annual Performance Review: Albert Einstein” by Peter Norvig. It’s a funny piece. I particularly liked
“In addition, I would have to say your output, while at times quite extraordinary, has been inconsistent. In Q1 you managed to publish one paper in the final two weeks of the quarter. In Q2 you improved productivity, with your dissertation in April, the Brownian Motion paper in May, and the Special Relativity paper in June. Not bad for a quarter, not bad at all. But then you seemed to slump: you did finish one paper 3 days before the close of Q3, but it was only 3 pages long. I admit that some reviewers did find it noteworthy, but really, couldn’t it have been the conclusion of your June paper? It almost seems like you held it back just to have something to show for Q3. (This flippant, almost disrespectful attitude is also evident in your dissertation: when told by your respected thesis committee that your thesis was too short, you added one sentence.) And then in Q4 — no publications at all.
I was reading his essay “Teach Yourself Programming in 10 Years” in preparation for teaching CPSC 401, Organization of Programming Languages in the spring semester, and thought I’d like to know more about the author. You too might enjoy visiting Peter Norvig’s Web site. While you’re there take a read of “Hiring a President. “
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