The Aperiodical 

You're reading: Posts Tagged: Clay Mathematics Institute

Riemann Hypothesis not proved

By Katie Steckles and Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted November 17, 2015



Here’s a tweet from Alex Bellos this morning:

BBC claims Nigerian solves Riemann Hypothesis, most famous problem in maths. Surely a hoax! https://t.co/Wkltfkh2P3 https://t.co/UHGy9W8shC

— Alex Bellos (@alexbellos) November 17, 2015

He’s right to be surprised – as reported in Vanguard, a Nigerian newspaper:

The 156-year old Riemann Hypothesis, one of the most important problems in Mathematics, has been successfully resolved by Nigeria Scholar, Dr. Opeyemi Enoch.

Suspicion levels are raised, as the paper also reports:

Three of the [Clay Millenium Prize] problems had been solved and the prizes given to the winners. This makes it the fourth to be solved of all the seven problems.

Unless we missed something, that’s not massively true – the only Millennium Prize problem solved so far is the Poincaré conjecture.

Naked Scientists on the Clay Millennium Prize Problems, f. Katie Steckles

By Peter Rowlett. Posted July 24, 2015

The Naked Scientists Podcast has released an episode on the Clay Millennium Prize Problems, titled ‘The Seven Million Dollar Maths Mystery’. The episode description is:

This week, we’re investigating the Millennium Prize Problems – a set of mathematical equations that, if solved, will not only nab the lucky winner a million, but also revolutionise the world. Plus, the headlines from the world of science and technology, including why screams are so alarming, how fat fish help the human fight against flab, and what’s the future of money?

Better yet, the episode includes a contribution from our very own Katie Steckles talking topology, Poincaré and Perelman.

The episode is available to listen or download as a podcast or, less conveniently, at 5am tomorrow on Radio 5 Live (or later on iPlayer). Not a listener? Read a transcript.

First Clay Award for Dissemination of Mathematical Knowledge goes to Etienne Ghys

By Christian Lawson-Perfect. Posted June 14, 2015



The Clay Mathematics Institute is best known for handing out a cool million in return for answering a hard question, much like Chris Tarrant.

Anyway, that’s not all they do! The Institute says it is “dedicated to increasing and disseminating mathematical knowledge”, and that now includes handing out an award for Dissemination of Mathematical Knowledge. The first recipient is research mathematician, Frenchman, and all-round top chap Etienne Ghys.