Prime Solver
A
fundamental problem had stymied mathematicians for centuries. Then a former
Subway cashier announced he’d solved it.
What
does a eureka moment look like? It’s usually more subtle than having an apple
fall from a tree, striking a young scientist in the head. In fact, you might
watch the whole thing unfold without realizing anything took place at all.
That’s
what happened on July 3, 2012, when a middle-aged Chinese man passed a
seemingly uneventful half-hour in the backyard of his friend’s suburban home in
Pueblo, Colo. The man, Yitang Zhang, spent most of the time pacing,
occasionally glancing at the golf course that abutted the yard or gazing toward
Pikes Peak and other mountains in the distance. He didn’t say a word, and after
30 minutes he went inside the house, perhaps to find relief from the heat and
blazing sun.
Zhang had just solved
one of the most celebrated problems in mathematics, a version of the twin prime
conjecture. (A conjecture’s a mathematical hypothesis with some basis to it,
not just a wild guess.) He didn’t bother telling his friend what he’d
accomplished, as it would have been rather difficult to explain, even if Zhang was
inclined to talk about his work, which he’s not. The effort of trying to get a
layperson to grasp the miraculous, though exceedingly technical, sleight of
hand he’d just pulled off would likely have ruined the moment of private
exaltation Zhang was experiencing. “I didn’t tell him anything,” he says. “It
was unnecessary to tell him...”
From
Discover Magazine
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