Submission timeline
2007–2026One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.
First comments on top threads
HN comment orderThis seems to echo what Richard Hamming says in "You and your research". He recounts how his fellow scientists were working on unimportant problems in their field. The judgement of unimportant came not from Hamming, but from the fellow scientists when he asked them "What's the most important problem in your field right now?" His subsequent question was, "How come you're not working on it?" He says that didn't earn him many friends. By "important", I had also mistakenly thought…
This was a beautiful letter to read, with a simple piece of wisdom about life, spelled out for the student. I am grateful that this was submitted to Hacker News, and that I was able to read it.
The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.
- Breakout years
- 2
- Total points
- 1074
- Total comments
- 106
100+ points or 50+ comments
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking
Every submission
| Date | Title as submitted | By | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-07-14 | What Problems to SolveFirst breakout · Best thread | kamaal | 574 | 45 |
| 2016-08-26 | What Problems to Solve – By Richard Feynman | kercker | 5 | 0 |
| 2018-08-24 | What Problems to Solve – By Richard Feynman | coffeeandjunk | 2 | 0 |
| 2025-06-25 | What Problems to Solve (1966)Latest 20+ point return | jxmorris12 | 493 | 61 |