Jim Simons is the legendary founder of quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, commonly referred to as RenTec. The mathematician graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and took what he learned and applied it to financial markets.
At age 38 he founded RenTec and he's been wildly successful (just see his Medallion Fund returns here). Simons retired from RenTec in 2009, but the firm full of scientists lives on.
Simons gave a lecture at MIT in 2010 about mathematics, common sense, good luck, and his various careers. Given that he rarely gives interviews, this lecture is well worth a view.
Embedded below is the full video of Jim Simons' lecture (email readers click to come read). He begins at the 10-minute mark and talks investment management at the 28-minute mark:
You can also view another rare interview with Jim Simons here.
