Legal Commentary

Math Disputes Are a Serious Matter

By Eugene Volokh

The L.A. Times reports that Cal State Northridge math professor Tihomir Petrov ?has been charged with urinating on a colleague?s office door? as a result of a dispute with the colleague. And it wasn?t just a one-time thing: He was captured on concealed camera, hidden nearby by school officials after they ?discover[ed] puddles of what they thought was urine at the professor?s door.?

On the other hand, maybe the colleague should be glad that all he got was a stinky office door; some mathematical disputes end worse. It is said that one Hippasos, who revealed the irrationality of the square root of 2 ? something the Pythagoreans viewed as a secret ? perished in a shipwreck for his troubles. Of course, I realize that perhaps the Northridge dispute was not about matters mathematical, but I would like to think that it was. Thanks to Paul Milligan for the pointer.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on January 27, 2011 (boomark / email).