A HUNDRED years after it was posed, it seems a mathematician has finally solved one of the hardest problems known to humanity. April saw the publication of a proof of the notorious PoincarĂ© conjecture, a prize that could make its author $1 million richer. What’s more, the solution may solve an even wider mathematical statement called the geometrisation conjecture, revolutionising the branch of mathematics called topology.
The PoincarĂ© conjecture is based on a simple idea. If you tie a piece of elastic around the two-dimensional surface of a sphere, it can always be pulled tight to a point. This is…
