The amazing story of one of the greatest math problems of all time and the reclusive genius who solved it

In the tradition of Fermat’s Enigma and Prime Obsession, George Szpiro brings to life the giants of mathematics who struggled to prove a theorem for a century and the mysterious man from St. Petersburg, Grigory Perelman, who fi nally accomplished the impossible. In 1904 Henri Poincaré developed the Poincaré Conjecture, an attempt to understand higher-dimensional space and possibly the shape of the universe. The problem was he couldn’t prove it. A century later it was named a Millennium Prize problem, one of the seven hardest problems we can imagine. Now this holy grail of mathematics has been found.

Accessibly interweaving history and math, Szpiro captures the passion, frustration, and excitement of the hunt, and provides a fascinating portrait of a contemporary noble-genius.

“[Szpiro] turns the abstract mathematics of spheres into a lucid, lovely romantic odyssey.”
—Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind

“A wonderful history of a great breakthrough.”
—Bud Mishra, professor, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University

George G. Szpiro is a mathematician and prizewinning journalist with an MBA from Stanford and a Ph.D. in mathematical economics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His previous book, Kepler’s Conjecture, was published in five languages to international critical acclaim.

Imprint: Plume
Distributor: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Publication Date: 07-29-2008
Pages: 320
Measurements: 7.96in X 5.32in X 0.67in X 0.58lb