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RESEARCH SUMMARY ON THE 70TH BIRTHDAY

 

by Kristo Ivanov

<http://www.informatik.umu.se/~kivanov/ResSum70thBirth.html>

 

 

 

On occasion of my 70th birthday in october 2007, and as a response to inquiries about research results, thoughts and feelings, both professional and personal, I wished to present the following short summary based on a few relevant excerpts from The Ecclesiastes. Under the subsequent years I did complete this text with some pertinent additions that, however, were later gathered into a more comprehensive Research Summary on the 75th Birthday. It can also work as a handbook for professors emeriti in general, and as a guide for progressive closing of life's balance-sheet:

 

 

 

"What has happened will happen again, and what has been done will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun...The men of old are not remembered, and those who follow will not be remembered by those who follow them..."(1:9, 11)

 

"So I applied my mind to understand wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, and I came to see that this too is chasing the wind. For in much wisdom is much vexation, and the more a man knows, the more he has to suffer..."(1:17)

 

"Yes, indeed, I got pleasure from all my labour, and for all my labour this was my reward. Then I turned and reviewed all my handiwork, all my labour and toil, and I saw that everything was emptiness and chasing the wind, of no profit under the sun..."(2:10)

 

"What sort of man will he be who succeeds me, who inherits what others have acquired? Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will be the master of all the fruits of my labour and skill here under the sun. This too is emptiness." (2:18)

 

"One more thing I have observed here under the sun: speed does not win the race nor strength the battle. Bread does not belong to the wise, nor wealth to the intelligent, nor success to the skilful; time and chance govern all..."(9:11)

 

"One further warning, my son: the use of books is endless, and much study is wearisome."(12:12)

 

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From: The new English Bible. (1970). Cambridge: Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. (Trans. under the auspices of the Joint Committee on the new translation of the Bible.)

 

 


Always welcome with your thoughts and comments!

 

Kristo Ivanov

http://www.informatik.umu.se/~kivanov/