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Any stories we should be chasing? Hit reply to this email or message me at steve@axios.com. Kaveh Waddell is at kaveh@axios.com and Erica Pandey at erica@axios.com.
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Gell-Mann (R) receiving the Nobel, 1969. Photo: Bettmann Archive/Getty
Murray Gell-Mann corrected others' pronunciations of their own names. He watched birds, knew fine wines, collected art — and received the Nobel prize for physics in 1969, Kaveh writes.
Why it matters: "Much of what we currently understand about particle physics was invented by Murray Gell-Mann," says Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at Caltech, where Gell-Mann taught for decades. "He was a towering influence in the field."
Among his lasting achievements:
The grand projects of his career bridged the physical sciences and humanities: He went from studying the arcane dynamics of infinitesimal particles to exploring the enormity of complex systems.
By all accounts, Gell-Mann was well acquainted with his own genius, treating perceived incompetence with impatience.
What's next: Gell-Mann's study of complex systems, continuing at the Santa Fe Institute, could help humans understand some of the most confounding problems out there, says Carroll — from aging to the internet to financial crises to the human brain.
Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
In Seattle, Amazon's home, housing prices have doubled over the past 6 years. Now, the Washington, D.C. market is feeling the same effect, Erica and David McCabe report.
By the numbers: Per a new report from Redfin, home prices in the D.C. suburb of Arlington were up nearly 18% year-over-year in April. That's compared with 2.7% for the D.C. metro area overall.
What's happening: Homeowners are holding onto their houses in the hopes of higher prices once the HQ2 project expands, say multiple area agents. And buyers have been rushing to lock in sales before Amazon’s presence bumps up prices.
An Amazon spokesperson said: "Access to housing is a concern in communities throughout the U.S., including Arlington. One of the things that drew us to this location was the plans the County and the Commonwealth have in place to address this issue." The company also said, "We plan to hire people who live here so the impact on the region will be minimal."
Photo: Murat Oner Tas/Anadolu/Getty
You can't get Future everywhere. Never mind — here is the top of the week:
1. The 2020 health care election: Americans are fixated on medicine
2. Sharing the big data bonanza: The payoff may be disappointing
3. For Trump, a China trade war election: A forever game of brinkmanship
4. Privacy-preserving AI: Sharing collective wisdom
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The college dropout crisis (David Leonhardt, Sahil Chinoy - NYT)
A robotic threat to baseball umpires (Kendall Baker - Axios)
This Amazon device can read emotions (Matthew Day - Bloomberg)
Central Asia's weird and wonderful Soviet architecture (Michael Hardy - Wired)
The race for the better battery (Jeff Ball - Fortune)
Photo: Adam Jeffery/CNBC/Getty
Do you want to pick Warren Buffett's brain over steak? You can — but it'll cost you millions of dollars.
Erica writes: Every year, Buffett auctions off a meal with him and donates the proceeds to GLIDE, which serves homeless or impoverished people in San Francisco. In 2001, it sold for $18,600. Last year the price tag was $3.3 million, reports Quartz.
This year, the bidding starts at $25,000 and ends May 31. Lunch is at Smith & Wollensky on Third Avenue in Manhattan.