PAUL ERDÖS WAS STRANGE

Plus Smart, Tenacious, and Delightful

Singular obsession can drive us to achieve our goals. Or can a one-track-mind be harmful?

Erdős influenced many young mathematicians, including Terence Tao, who went on to receive received the Fields Medal in 2006, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2007. Photo taken in 1985 at the University of Adelaide, by either Billy or Grace Tao.

Hungarian mathematician, Paul Erdős, was a strange houseguest. He had no permanent address, preferring to stay with friends for weeks at a time, believing that the universe was his home. More so, Paul would expect his host to do his laundry, and unabashedly wake them in the early hours of the morning, looking for a mathematical collaborator, and declaring “my brain is open, is yours?”.

Paul spent countless hours scribbling equations, filling notebooks and discussing theories with anyone who would listen, regardless of their academic standing. He was also a coffee addict, downing dozens of cups a day that led to a paper entitled “Problems Left as an Exercise to the Reader or to Myself.”

Prime numbers were his “best friends” yet Paul’s quirky personality endeared him to his colleagues and made him a legend in the field of mathematics. He published over 1,500 papers, a testament to his groundbreaking contributions to mathematics, making him one of the most prolific mathematicians of all time.

Paul’s obsession with numbers was not a source of annoyance to those around him. Rather, it delighted those who interacted with him and made him a legend in the field of mathematics.

More about Paul here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s