In my junior year at Covenant College, the soccer team got a new goalkeeper, a newly-arrived freshman and the younger brother of one of my friends. He was a nice kid, sort of quiet, kind of a bookworm. The next year, I tried to convince him to run for president of the student government, but he said he wanted to pay closer attention to his studies. (I think he eventually quit the soccer team for the same reason.)
Apparently Hans Halvorson's immersion in his studies is paying off. I just got off the phone with his brother, Derek (aka The Deezer), who told me that Hans is getting tenure-track offers at all of the top departments in his field, and some of these offers are coming without an interview. He now has a BA and an MA in Philosophy, an MA in Mathematics, and a PhD (pending) in Philosophy of Science.
Here is a sample of his dissertation abstract (warning: PDF link; scroll down to page 5 for full dissertation abstract):
In the third section, I examine the so-called observer-dependence of the particle conceptin relativistic QFT [Quantum Field Theory]--that is, what counts as a particle, or even whether there are any particles present, is relative to one's state of motion. Now, observer-dependence of quantities (e.g., velocity, simultaneity) is a well-known and conceptually unproblematic feature of modern physical theories. Indeed, it is the essence of relativistic theories to subsume observer-dependent descriptions under a more general observer-independent description of some underlying state of affairs. However, I show that conflicting accounts concerning the existence of particles (or the number of particles present) cannot be subsumed under a single account of some underlying state of affairs. In fact, I argue—using an analogy to position and momentum in elementary quantum mechanics—that these apparently conflicting accounts arise from complementary, rather than incommensurable, explications of the particle concept.
His last three days: reflecting on important cosmological problems, trying to decide whether or not to bother with an interview at Notre Dame in light of the superior job offers in hand. My last three days: writing marketing copy, twiddling countless parameters in five different text files in an attempt to get Apache, Tomcat and Cocoon to talk to each other as designed.