Youngest Cambridge Undergrad Bolsters Conjecture About Math Prodigies

September 15, 2010

When Arran Fernandez, 15, became the youngest Cambridge undergraduate in more than two centuries, he reinforced a tenet of mathematics: it's a young person's game.

"Mathematics remains fixated on the idea that genius burns brightly in youth and fizzles by middle age. When we marvel at Fernandez we are indulging in a myth that dates back to Galois and Byron," wrote author Alex Bellos in a recent post on his blog.

In fact, mathematics highest honor, the Fields Medal, is awarded only to those under 40. Three of this year's four Fields medalists, Bellos wrote, had shown their mettle as teenage champions at the International Mathematical Olympiad; two had garnered gold medals for perfect scores. (Read about the 2010 winners in Math in the News article “Fields Medals and Other Top Math Prizes Awarded at ICM 2010”.)

At the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), Bellos spoke to Fields medalist Elon Lindenstrauss, who said, “You change your skills" as you grow older. "Maybe you do one thing less quickly, but you can see other things better.”

Proof of sorts came from Chern Medal winner Louis Nirenberg, 85, who indicated he had done his best work between the ages of 40 and 60. And don't forget Andrew Wiles, Bellos pointed out, who was 41 when he had a key insight that cracked Fermat's Last Theorem.

That the young Fernandez wants to solve the Riemann Hypothesis, wrote Bellos, says less about his mathematical ability and more about his emotional state of mind. “Often child maths prodigies struggle with growing up, and sometimes abandon maths altogether," he concluded.  

Source: Alex Bellos (September 7, 2010)