Sir Michael Atiyah

The sad news of the death of one of Britain’s most prominent mathematicians came in the early part of 2019.

Sir Michael Atiyah was born in 1929 in London and went on to have a highly distinguished career, producing a wealth of original mathematics of great significance.

He collaborated with a wide range of outstanding mathematicians throughout his career and was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966 and the Abel Prize in 2004. These are two of the most prestigious awards that can be presented to a mathematician.

Sir Michael Atiyah 1929 - 2019

Sir Michael spent much of his career at Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge universities. Amongst his many interests, he contributed to the theories of Algebraic Topology, Gauge Theory and Index Theory.

These are highly specialised areas of mathematical study where one might come across exotic mathematical beasts such as skyrmions, twisted cubic curves and hyperbolic space.

Towards the end of his life, Sir Michael claimed to have solved the Riemann Hypothesis. This is probably the most important (and difficult) unsolved problem in mathematics. However, mathematicians now think it is unlikely that his solution was correct.

“There is a prize of $1,000,000 for anybody who manages to finally crack the Riemann Hypothesis.”

A solution to the Riemann Hypothesis would have vast consequences across the whole of mathematics but for now it remains undefeated.

Who knows - perhaps you might solve it one day!