Erdős – Bacon – Sabbath – Kim Number = 10
Many of you may have heard of the Erdős number, which is a measure of publication distance from Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős. Or maybe you are more familiar with the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, and the corresponding “Bacon number” which is an analogous measurement. Erdős was a prolific mathematician who collaborated with an enormous number of other mathematicians, and Kevin Bacon has been in all sorts of movies with an enormous number of co-stars, so they are fun measurement games for people working in those fields. A select few people have both an Erdős number and a Bacon number, having published mathematical papers as well as appeared in a movie, in which case the two numbers can be summed to create one’s Erdős-Bacon number. Musicians wanted to play the game as well, and the prolific musicians they chose as nodes in their graph was Black Sabbath, where one’s Sabbath number is the collaboration distance on recordings or public performances from any member of Black Sabbath. A very small number of polymaths will have all three numbers, which can then be added together to give one an Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath number. Let me walk you through how one calculates this number by using myself as an example.
Erdős number = 3
This is the easy one – as an academic, I published multiple articles with Eric Lander. One example is this one:
Kuokkanen S, Gschwend M, Rioux JD, Daly MJ, Terwilliger JD, Tienari PJ, Wikström J, Palo J, Stein LD, Hudson TJ, Lander ES, Peltonen L (1997) Genomewide scan of multiple sclerosis in Finnish multiplex families. Am J Hum Genet 61:1379-1387.
Lander published with Daniel J. Kleitman – for example, this one:
Pachter L, Batzoglou S, Spitkovsky VI, Banks E, Lander ES, Kleitman DJ, Berger B (2004) A Dictionary-Based Approach for Gene Annotation. J Comp Biol 6:3-4 https://doi.org/10.1089/106652799318364
Kleitman published with Erdős – for example, this one:
Erdős P, Kleitman DJ (1974) Extremal Problems Among Subsets of a Set. Discrete Mathematics 8:281-294.
So that gives me a collaborative distance of (no more than) 3 from mathematician Paul Erdős. If anyone knows of a closer connection I might have, feel free to let me know! I have published with many mathematicians and computer scientists over the years…
Bacon number = 3
For Kevin Bacon, you may at first be surprised that I would have such a number at all, being an academic and a musician, but do not forget that I also went to the DPRK with former NBA superstar Dennis Rodman on several occasions, and on one of those trips we had a film crew with us, and so I feature quite prominently in that movie (which is now available on YouTube for free, so if you have not seen it, check it out!). I got good reviews from Variety who wrote “Meanwhile, sporadic comic relief is provided by Joe Terwilliger, a Columbia U. statistical geneticist who fortuitously accompanies Rodman and the gang on this wild ride. Whether he’s registering amazement or performing karaoke, Terwilliger seems very much like a character who, had this been a feature instead of a documentary, might be played by Seth Rogen. No kidding.”
Big Bang in Pyongyang (2015) Directed by Colin Offland of Chief Productions.
Dennis Rodman has appeared in Double Team (1997) with Mickey Rourke
Double Team (1997) Directed by Tsui Hark
Mickey Rourke has appeared in Diner (1982) with Kevin Bacon
Diner (1982) Directed by Barry Levinson
So based on this path, I have a collaborative distance in movies from Kevin Bacon of 3. If you know of a closer connection, let me know!
Sabbath number = 3
As a classical musician, you might find it odd to think I have a performance/recording distance so close to Black Sabbath, but there are actually two pathways that give me a 3 (and I have a social connection of 2, but that does not count here).
The simplest path connecting me to Black Sabbath is through horn player Chris Komer. We were both members of a NYC based brass group FilmHarmonic Brass, and we recorded the CD FilmHarmonic Brass Plays John Williams in 2017.
FilmHarmonic Brass Plays John Williams (2017) Label: Roven Records.
Chris Komer played with St Luke’s Orchestra when they played with Metallica in Madison Square Garden in 1999.
S&M Tour (11/23/1999) – Metallica with St Lukes Orchestra – Madison Square Garden
Black Sabbath member Ozzy Osbourne then sang with Metallica at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden, in 2009.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert (10/30/2009) – Madison Square Garden.
So that gives me a maximum collaborative distance from Black Sabbath of 3.
I also sang on a Finnish heavy metal album in 2020, Killection by Finnish heavy metal band Lordi, so who knows what the closest connection is between them and Black Sabbath??
As a social aside, I have had a beer with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Aiommi’s daughter Toni, at her apartment in Töölö, which is a social distance of 2, but we never played music together it doesn’t really count for this purpose.
Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath number = 9
So, that gives me an Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath number of no more than 9 (maybe lower). I am guessing that is pretty good, since not many people even have one of those numbers. But to bias it in my own favor I add the elusive Kim Jong Un number. Since I met him personally with Dennis Rodman on multiple occasions, as part of sports diplomacy projects, I would have a Kim number of 1, so that would presumably give me the lowest Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath-Kim number. at no more than 10! I guess that qualifies me as a polymath, I presume… If anyone has a plan to reduce those numbers, drop me a line and let’s make it happen!
Erdős-Bacon-Sabbath-Kim number = 10
