Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers
Green's functions (which I never understood).
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Some of our maths lectures were given by
Professor Zienau, a total genius who considered undergraduates to be stupid. He was known for his squeaking shoes which signaled his impending arrival long before he came into sight. He gave lectures straight out of his head with no notes. On one occasion he started a lecture by writing a triple integral which extended over two blackboards. After looking at it for a few seconds he announced "and we can see by inspection that the solution is ...". One of us dared to admit that he couldn't see it by inspection and asked for a bit more explanation. After the obligatory "you are so stupid", Zienau spent the rest of the hour working out the solution step by step and eventually came up with the same answer. Long afterwards I saw that he studied under Wolfgang Pauli and would have undoubtedly been an interesting person to talk to.
Anyway, he taught us about Green's functions in a mini-lecture lasting all of five minutes which is probably why I never understood them either.