On Tue, Jan 06, 2009 at 08:23:48PM -0500, WJhonson@aol.com wrote:
The very definition of "important" is, that many people cite it. If no one cites it, it's not important.
Remember that I do not count a "name check" of a theorem as an actual source for the theorem (since it is not actually a source in any ordinary meaning of the word "source"). This may be leading to some misunderstanding.
Another issue is the cyclical nature of academic research. It's perfectly possible for a microfield to spring 25 peer reviewed papers in a decade and then pass out of fashion or have all the accessible results exhausted. Some of these microfields will get a book written about them, some will not. All are of encyclopedic interest.
- Carl