history
Billions. And Billions.
As a geek who grew up primarily in the 70s-80s, bla bla bla, in lieu of learning 'dap' (some football thing which still freakin' confuses me), Carl Sagan's Cosmos was a cornerstone of both habitual amateur science and perpetual existential woolgathering. I mean, Sagan just oozed liberal dope smoking physicist. In fact, archetypal, in that regard. His descriptions of physical events of the universe were not merely scientific, they were enthusiastic missives -- as much as today's news of Hubble images of the Antennae galaxies, billions and billions of stars merging is some sort of awkward, dirty galactic love.Ramanujan's Congruences
Ramanujan couldn't pass his exams, became a clerk but sent letters with his mathemtical insights to Cambrige. Being recognized for his brilliance, Ramanujan was brought to Cambridge where he excelled at number theory. It may have been the English weather or food that killed him at 32. His notebooks have intrigued mathematicians since; including a pesky problem now refered to as the 'congruences'. A student, Karl Mahlburg, has cracked the final piece of this problem, why prime numbers show certain patterns. Paul Erdos would enjoy this one. See here or here.
