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Entry of 16/3/2009 is available in Finnish.
London Tuesday 3rd March 2009
During the spring term, I have been attending to Professor Alexander Ivanov's lectures on group representations. These lectures have a certain reputation, which is partly due to Professor Ivanov's way of constantly coming up with allegories to explain the mathematics involved or the progress of the course or whatever he deems necessary to clarify.
Today he spent the whole lecture establishing the existence of certain three-dimensional representations of the symmetric group S4. He went on filling the whiteboard with calculations, wiping it clean and then filling it up again. Finally, he had successfully produced the two representations he was looking for, and when all the students just sat there, not uttering a word, not joining in his delight in work well done, he told us the following story.
"A man came to a ship looking for work. When the captain asked him what he could do, the man answered he could make very good glukols. The captain had no idea what a 'glukol' was, so he asked the man what he needed to build such a thing. The man answered that it takes a lot of effort to make a good glukol: he would have to have his own office, he would use a lot of wood, and the work would take many years. The captain decided to be generous and hired the man, gave him an office, a small but sufficient salary and as much wood as he requested.
"The man worked fervently through the following years. He came and went, often starting early in the morning in his office and staying in till the very late, and constantly ordering more wood to be brought to him. All this the captain marvelled greatly, but he never once asked the man about his work.
"Finally, after three years the man's work contract expired, and the captain came him, demanding results. The man produced a piece of wood, about six inches long and one inch in diameter, joined together from many smaller pieces, all miraculously carved. The captain was furious: 'Is this what you've got to show after wasting so much time and money and wood?' and without further ado, ordered the man to be hanged from the mast.
"While the seamen were preparing the rope, the admiral saw that something was happening on the ship, and came to ask the captain what it was all about. The captain explained him about the man and the working contract, presently producing the piece of wood for the admiral to see. The admiral took the piece in his hand and examined it carefully, with amazement. Finally he declared: 'By great Neptune and all his mermaids, this is without a doubt the finest glukol I've ever seen!' Then he walked to the edge of the ship, weighed the piece in his hand, and cast it high over the board. All could hear the distinct sound it made when it hit the water: 'gluk'."
This story, according to the professor, can be used to explain the nature of postgraduate studies, as well.