misfit theme

[VadimR]

Possibly the greatest mathematician since antiquity was Carl Friedrich Gauss, a dour German born in the late 18th century. He did not get along with his own children and kept important results to himself, seeing them as unsuitable for public view. They were discovered among his papers after his death. Before and since, the annals of the field have teemed with variations on this misfit theme, from Isaac Newton, the loner with a savage temper...

What is the meaning of the bold text in here?

 

[Chez]

It means that there have been many examples over the years of important thinkers (scientists, mathematicians who have not been comfortable (fitted well) into their families/society in general. People like this can be called 'misfits', and several misfits amount to 'a theme' (a common strand/idea).

 

[Miss Julie]

It means that there have been many examples over the years of important thinkers (scientists, mathematicians who have not been comfortable (fitted well) into their families/society in general. People like this can be called 'misfits', and several misfits amount to 'a theme' (a common strand/idea).

And "misfit" is a noun being used as an adjective...very common in English.

 

[entangledbank]

'Variations on a theme' is borrowed from musical terminology: the same story, in slightly different forms. The theme could be an aria from Mozart, if it's really music, or in this case it's 'misfits', people who don't fit in. It's not a 'misfit theme' in the sense of a theme that doesn't fit in: it's a theme about people who don't fit in.

cross-posted

 

[Scholiast]

Greetings

The writer (who, incidentally?) is using a metaphor from music, with "variations...theme...": in a set of Variations, a single melodic theme is put through several different harmonic, rhythmic and contrapuntal treatments - through which, however complex they may be, the original theme remains continually recognisable to the ear.

The "misfit" bit is as Chez describes it - Gauss was a socially awkward individual, who did not easily adapt or conform himself to the cultural expectations of those around him. That (the author suggests) is a constant "theme" or strand of mathematical genius' personalities and lives, of which Gauss' own idiosyncratic career was one example.

Σ

 

[VadimR]

Thanks to everyone!!! =)

 

[VadimR]

a common strand

What does this mean? I did not find this in any dictionary.

 

[VadimR]

Greetings

The writer (who, incidentally?) is using a metaphor from music, with "variations...theme...": in a set of Variations, a single melodic theme is put through several different harmonic, rhythmic and contrapuntal treatments - through which, however complex they may be, the original theme remains continually recognisable to the ear.

The "misfit" bit is as Chez describes it - Gauss was a socially awkward individual, who did not easily adapt or conform himself to the cultural expectations of those around him. That (the author suggests) is a constant "theme" or strand of mathematical genius' personalities and lives, of which Gauss' own idiosyncratic career was one example.

Σ

Gareth Cook - The Singular Mind of Terry Tao