
Michael Atiyah has died - ColinWright
https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/31190
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nabla9
"I always want to try to understand why things work. I’m not interested in
getting a formula without knowing what it means. I always try to dig behind
the scenes, so if I have a formula, I understand why it’s there. And
understanding is a very difficult notion. People think mathematics begins when
you write down a theorem followed by a proof. That’s not the beginning, that’s
the end. For me the creative place in mathematics comes before you start to
put things down on paper, before you try to write a formula. You picture
various things, you turn them over in your mind. You’re trying to create, just
as a musician is trying to create music, or a poet. There are no rules laid
down. You have to do it your own way. But at the end, just as a composer has
to put it down on paper, you have to write things down. But the most important
stage is understanding. A proof by itself doesn’t give you understanding. You
can have a long proof and no idea at the end of why it works. But to
understand why it works, you have to have a kind of gut reaction to the thing.
You’ve got to feel it."

­­­– Sir Michael Francis Atiyah

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noud
Sad to hear that Michael Atiyah has died. I studied many of his papers, and I
enjoyed his classical "Introduction to commutative algebra" (which is by no
means an introduction to the field). Also I had the honor to meet him several
years ago in person. He had a kind and humble character, and by no means I
felt I was discussing mathematics with one of the best mathematicians of the
previous century. He was always lowering his level to match mine. He explained
everything clear and he gave good advice that helped my career in many ways.
Thank you, and requiescat in pace.

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podiki
An amazing mathematician, to put it lightly. I remember learning the Atiyah-
Singer index theorem [1] and how it relates to anomalies in quantum theories,
it absolutely blew my mind. And then every time I came back to anomalies I
would rediscover this fact and be floored again, one of my favorite
physics/theory/math connections.

[1] e.g.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atiyah%E2%80%93Singer_index_th...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atiyah%E2%80%93Singer_index_theorem)
(though not the best for the more physics minded)

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osrec
For anyone with an interest in maths, do give
[https://youtu.be/uMN5t3tzchI](https://youtu.be/uMN5t3tzchI) a watch

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teilo
[https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/31190](https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/31190)

[https://royalsociety.org/news/2019/01/tribute-to-former-
pres...](https://royalsociety.org/news/2019/01/tribute-to-former-president-of-
the-royal-society-sir-michael-atiyah/)

~~~
dang
Thanks, we've changed to that first link from
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Atiyah](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Atiyah).

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auggierose
That makes me sad. He came across as such a gentle and down to earth
mathematician. He truly was math nobility.

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tobmlt
quantamagazine did a nice write up on Michael Atiyah back in 2016. They
rightly brought it back to the font page. Here is a link:

[https://www.quantamagazine.org/michael-atiyahs-
mathematical-...](https://www.quantamagazine.org/michael-atiyahs-mathematical-
dreams-20160303/)

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devy
Wow. Sir Michael Atiyah claimed he solved Riemann hypothesis just short four
months ago.[1]

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18062092](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18062092)

~~~
arcticfox
This is a sad story, mostly about everyone deciding what the most kind way is
to treat broken work by someone whose best days are well behind them.

Interesting discussion at: [https://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/3894/is-
there-a-way-...](https://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/3894/is-there-a-way-
to-discuss-the-correctness-of-the-proof-of-the-rh-by-atiyah-in-mo)

And mathematicians taking him seriously:
[https://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/reading-into-
atiya...](https://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/reading-into-atiyahs-
proof/)

~~~
bredren
You don’t have to be a follower of a famous mathematician to find sadness in
the intellectual decline of someone.

Our ability to preserve bodies far longer than mind is a major problem for
everyone.

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macawfish
It's sad to me that people were so hard on him for his last works. I wish
mathematics had a positive space for speculation.

~~~
SatvikBeri
I followed this reasonably closely, and I didn't see anyone in the Math
community criticize Atiyah. And Math is certainly pretty pro-speculation.

People were mostly just sad that journalists were hyping up an obvious case of
age-related cognitive decline from a brilliant Mathematician.

And to be clear, Atiyah's last work wasn't speculation – it was completely
off, in the "not even wrong" category. Unfortunately, that's pretty common as
people get older, but there's no reason to publicize it.

~~~
dooglius
>Unfortunately, that's pretty common as people get older

Are there other examples of this in Mathematicians? Nash and Godel come to
mind, but both of them had non-math-related issues.

~~~
nikofeyn
i think it is relatively common in creatively brilliant people who become
older. some people solve problems in ways that are counterintuitive and
against the grain. it takes a lot of courage to do this, especially social
courage. so for the few people that have success with this way of thinking, as
they get older, they are trying to resummon the processes they've used before.
much of that includes not listening to those who tell you you're wrong. but
some declination of mental faculties makes this a bit dangerous as the mind
isn't as sharp as it once was. although some of it may be even as simple as
they miss the attention.

this is my theory anyway.

~~~
abc_lisper
Note to self: Keep a pet-puzzle(s) that is difficult but solvable. As I grow
old, keep solving the puzzles to determine how senile I am. No need to believe
others assertions at face value.

~~~
waterhouse
Try these?
[https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/AIME_Problems...](https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/AIME_Problems_and_Solutions)

