Serge Lang Quotes

Serge Lang was a French-American mathematician and activist. He is known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the influential Algebra. He was a member of the Bourbaki group. At the time of his death he was professor emeritus of mathematics at Yale University.

✵ 19. May 1927 – 12. September 2005
Serge Lang: 5   quotes 1   like

Famous Serge Lang Quotes

“I am not here concerned with intent, but with scientific standards, especially the ability to tell the difference between a fact, an opinion, a hypothesis, and a hole in the ground.”

"HIV and AIDS: Have We Been Misled?; Questions of Scientific and Journalistic Responsibility," http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/hiv/slquestions.htm Yale Scientific (Fall 1994), reprinted in Challenges (Springer, 1997, ISBN 0387948619, p. 70

“I am bothered by the way misinformation is accepted uncritically, and by the way people are unable to recognize it or reject it.”

This is part of Lang's campaign in his attempt to discredit the results of The 1977 survey of the American professoriate published in 1979 by Everett C Ladd and Seymour M Lipsett. In 1981 Lang published The File: Case Study in Correction (1977-1979) which consists of copies of correspondence concerning the survey. In this quote from The File Lang sets out why he fought that campaign.

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