23 Problems That Changed the World Forever

Most summers are spent enjoying the beach, doing movie marathons or simply enjoying the free time. But one particular summer was the mark of the start of modern mathematics era and it happened in the city of love, Paris. David Hilbert gave a lecture on the International Congress of Mathematicians and pointed out 23 problems that he sketched as the most important ones that mathematicians should answer for it will define 20^th century mathematics.  Now one might ask, just because one guy pointed these out, it’s definitely worthwhile? Apparently, Hilbert wasn’t just any guy. He is the guy whose works are still widely talked about today and whose name is attached to various mathematical terms. These problems said to have changed the world. Imagine what it did to the lives of those who tried answering it. That is where the movie revolves while delving on the mathematical concepts involved.

Some won prizes for their brilliance. When king Oscar of Sweden wanted to know if the orbits in the solar system was stable or not, the mathematician Poincare thought of the answer while riding a bus. Yes, while riding a bus. Who knows, you might also get one while brushing your teeth or something. He won the prize for this answer because of his successive estimation of the orbits. However, he realized that he had made a wrong answer and kept the book from publishing. But he did came up with the famous Chaos Theory which deals on the random lack of order in a system that nevertheless obeys particular laws or rules. Like how a butterfly wing can produce a tornado in the other side of the world. Pretty weird, but the movie didn’t really expound on this idea. You can always refer to Mr. Google of course. Unlike Poincare, one mathematician chose not to claim his prize. Im talking about Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman, the one who answered Poincare’s conjecture. Despite his achievement which was accompanied by fame and glory in the mathematical world, he chose to shut the noise and live a simple life with his mother.

Others withdrew to their own interior world... The first problem was answered by George Cantor. He was the first to finally have a grasp on the concept on infinity. Unfortunately, he spent a lot of time in a sanitarium because of his manic depression and paranoia. It may have been because of what he unravelled or what he can’t—The Continuum Theorem. Another beautiful mind shared Cantor’s fate. Kurt  Gödel uncovered the Incompleteness Theorem in the attempt to answer one of the 23 problems. He demonstrated that it is impossible to prove everything in mathematics. As a kid he was called Mr. why because of his curiosity about his world but growing up in World War II must’ve messed with his mind. This caused him to be severely pessimistic which later lead to paranoia.

Some found a friend..  Julia Robinson was probably one of the most passionate mathematician of all time. She had to fight an awful lot of adversities to reach her dream- to be a part of the world of maths. And so she did. Although she just couldn’t find the answer to Hilbert’s 10^th problem but she did came up with a hypothesis and named it after herself (Robinson’s hypothesis). Until a young man from New York, Martin Davis, came along with the last puzzle piece. When he found out he had the answer to Hilbert’s 10^th problem he immediately made friends with the person who practically have been his mentor through her works- Julia Robinson.

This isn’t nearly half the story. There were several other mathematicians who contributed so much to the 20^th century mathematics by providing thoughts on Hilbert’s 23 problems. The mathematical world is indeed majestic. It creates developments that can change the world and yet stay modest in its very core. When Hilbert sketched out the 23 problems, no prize was offered beyond the admiration of other mathematicians.

I think a mathematician’s endeavour is very noble. He spends his life working on a problem, uncertain if he could actually answer it, but very determined. Not expecting a literal pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; but works for the ultimate fulfilment of finding the answer to a very important question. And because math is closely knit with pretty much everything, we have quite a lot to thank them for. These next words I used to say sarcastically, but not anymore: “Thanks, math”.