Illustrations by Johnathan Dyck (jonathandyck.com).
The Greatest Mathematician You've Never Heard Of
Robert Langlands’s work may have no practical applications—and he doesn’t mind at all
Before giving his talk, Robert Langlands sent portions of the paper to various mathematicians familiar with his research. Several months later, he hasn’t heard back from anyone who’s been able to understand it in its entirety.
“If he wants more people to pay attention to it,” Arthur says, “why on earth would he write it in Russian?” Some people have theorized that it was targeted at Russian-born mathematician Edward Frenkel, though Langlands insists that’s not the case—he’s always wanted to write something in Russian, he says, and his retirement had finally furnished him with the opportunity to do so.
Read more at at thewalrus.ca.
