The 1980 Math Olympiad Program: Where are they now?
> According to one online source, Jeremy was a “Harvard-educated maths genius whose computer models alerted the bank to how small levels of defaults would quickly turn apparently sound assets into junk,” leading Goldman to start selling off at the end of 2006. OK, whatever.<p>Are you kidding me? This is huge; this is what prevented the financial crisis, as bad as it was, from turning into something much worse (it's "bad" for a bubble to pop, but it's worse for it to keep growing and pop later). This guy made the difference between billions of dollars going into houses that people couldn't afford and weren't worth the cost, and that same money going into productive investments. He probably contributed more to humanity than the rest of the list put together, with the possible exception of the other Goldman guy.<p>I know everyone thinks their own field is the most important, and I love academic maths, but goddam the snobbery towards the people who did something more directly useful with their talents is irritating here.