[mathprof]

"The one that rankles him most dates from his undergraduate days at MIT, where as a young woman in a class dominated by men he was the only student to solve a complicated math problem."

This may or may not be true.  (S)he might have had a biggotted professor.  Moreover, this happened in the 1970's and much has changed since then.  I would be shocked, very shocked if something like this would happen now. 

[mathprof]

Opps, forgot the whole quote in my post: "The one that rankles him most dates from his undergraduate days at MIT, where as a young woman in a class dominated by men he was the only student to solve a complicated math problem. The professor said a boyfriend must have done the work for her, according to Barres."

[NinoFan]

I'd love to know what he/she/it considered to be a complicated math problem.

[Calvin Locke]

I too, have had the occasional flash of insight...

So freakin' what? What does it prove?

Did she constantly outshine all the other brainiacs? Or was she an average genius in a school known for attracting geniuses?

[Tribune7]

The professor said a boyfriend must have done the work for her, according to Barres. . . (S)he might have had a biggotted professor.

Or maybe the prof was just trying to be nice. :-)

[The Electrician]

I was at MIT as an undergrad at around the same time that this guy/girl/whatever must have been there. I can attest from personal experience that there were plenty of professors there who would willingly bust your balls (um, guess that may not have been the most appropriate expression to use, huh) no matter what the pretext was. At the same time, there was constant whining about how difficult it was to be a black person at MIT. People tend to look for ways to blame their own personal problems on others. Guess what - it was difficult to be any kind of person at MIT. I came to that realization because I didn't have a convenient scapegoat to blame for my own difficulties...