The mathematician who cracked Wall Street | Jim Simons
Jim Simons was a mathematician and cryptographer who realized: the complex math he used to break codes could help explain patterns in the world of finance. Billions later, he's working to...
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Chris Anderson: You were something of a mathematical phenom. You had already taught at Harvard and MIT at a young age. And then the NSA came calling. What was that about? Jim Simons: Well the NSA -- that's the National Security Agency -- they didn't exactly come calling. They had an operation at Princeton, where they hired mathematicians to attack secret codes and stuff like that. And I knew that existed. And they had a very good policy, because you could do half your time at your own mathematics, and at least half your time working on their stuff. And they paid a lot. So that was an irresistible pull. So, I went there. CA: You were a code-cracker. JS: I was. CA: Until you got fired. JS: Well, I did get fired. Yes. CA: How come? JS: Well, ho...
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Chris Anderson: You were something of a mathematical phenom. You had already taught at Harvard and MIT at a young age. And then the NSA came calling. What was that about? Jim Simons: Well the NSA -- that's the National Security Agency -- they didn't exactly come calling. They had an operation at Princeton, where they hired mathematicians to attack secret codes and stuff like that. And I knew that existed. And they had a very good policy, because you could do half your time at your own mathematics, and at least half your time working on their stuff. And they paid a lot. So that was an irresistible pull. So, I went there. CA: You were a code-cracker. JS: I was. CA: Until you got fired. JS: Well, I did get fired. Yes. CA: How come? JS: Well, ho...
