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Mathematics Is Part of Time Magazine's Top 10 Everything of 2009
December 24, 2009
It's the end of the year, end of the decade, and everyone is making lists. It's no surprise to us at the MAA that Time magazine's "Top 10 Everything of 2009" contains mathematics.
Time's "Top 10 Scientific Discoveries" features #7: "The Fundamental Lemma, Solved."
Thirty years ago, Canadian-American mathematician Robert Langlands developed a theory connecting number theory and group theory, dubbed the "fundamental lemma." Over the past few years, Ngo Bao Chau (Université Paris-Sud) proposed a proof. "It's as if people were working on the far side of the river waiting for someone to throw this bridge across," said Peter Sarnak (Institute for Advanced Study), "and now all of sudden everyone's work on the other side of the river has been proven." he continued.
Those interested in learning more about Robert Langlands and that lemma can search on Wolfram|Alpha, #13 of Time's "50 Best Websites."
"Today's search whiz kid is Stephen Wolfram," wrote Time, "one of the biggest brains on the planet--and he's got the new idea." Wolfram's developed a search engine that can actually understand a user's questions and try to figure out answers. For more information see the Math in the News article "New Search Engine WolframAlpha Has Mathematicians Hypothesizing".
Time's "Top 10 Nonfiction Books" even contain mathematics. #6 "Logicomix" is a graphic novel that looks at the life of Bertrand Russell, one of the greatest logicians of the 20th century. Read more about this book and its authors, Apostolos Doxiadis, Christos H. Papadimitriou, Alecos Papadatos, and Annie Di Donna, in the Math in the News story, "Graphic Novel Explores Mathematical Logic".
Id:
743
Start Date:
Thursday, December 24, 2009
