Jim Simons: Life Lessons from the ‘World’s Smartest Billionaire’ (#054)

Mathematician, codebreaker, Professor, hedge fund pioneer, &
philanthropist Jim Simons makes his first-ever podcast appearance
on this episode of INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE with UC San Diego Professor
Brian Keating. Learn about Chern-Simons theory, leadership lessons,
hedge funds, and a dedication to serve the world through basic
research from a master. It is truly a delight to share with you the
more personal side of the man who’s been called The World’s
Smartest Billionaire: https://youtu.be/gjVDqfUhXOY In this
interview, we discuss heroes, fatherhood, leadership and the art of
math.    00:15:15 Why he’d invite Abraham Lincoln to
dinner. 00:23:42 Discovering Zeno’s paradox at the age of three.
00:34:28 Can math be beautiful? 00:46:25 Lessons from a master
investor: alpha vs. beta. 00:56:06 The serendipitous Chern-Simons
partnership. 01:03:18 A father’s love. 01:11:09 The legacy of a
good example. Jim Simons earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from UC
Berkeley at the age of 23. He worked as a mathematician for the NSA
and as a professor and department chair at Stony Brook University.
Simons earned billions after founding the hedge fund firm
Renaissance Technologies. He co-founded the Simons Foundation with
his wife Marilyn in 1994 to advance scientific research. The
foundation provided funding for the Simons Observatory, a telescope
array being built in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile
https://simonsobservatory.org/ Simons also founded Math For America
in 2004 to facilitate better math education. Watch a TED interview
with Jim Simons https://youtu.be/U5kIdtMJGc8 Learn about the Simons
Observatory, including the Simons-National Society of Black
Physicists Scholars Program (SNSP)
https://simonsobservatory.org/snsp.php Learn more about the Simons
Foundation on the web: https://www.simonsfoundation.org follow them
on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimonsFdn Please subscribe, rate,
and review the INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible/id1169885840?mt=2
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