The Riemann Hypothesis Remains Unproven

Dr Opeyemi Enoch claims to have proved
the Riemann Hypothesis.

There were stories going around today that one of the longest-standing problems in mathematics had been solved, namely the Riemann Hypothesis.

The Riemann Hypothesis relates to a mathematical function called the Zeta function, and in particular where the value of this function is zero. Proving the hypothesis would give mathematicians new insight into the distribution of the prime numbers.

A Nigerian academic named Dr Opeyemi Enoch was reported to have finally proved the 156 year old problem, which is one of the Clay Institute's outstanding millennium problems.

As this article on the Aperiodical website makes clear, Dr Enoch has a very varied academic background, including designing a prototype silo for peasant farmers and detecting people on an evil mission.

His "proof" was presented at a poorly-attended conference, which doesn't seem to have attracted the audiences or world attention that such a ground-breaking piece of work would warrant. But the BBC ran an interview with Dr Enoch, in which he was asked, among other things, what he would do with the one million dollar prize for solving the problem.

In an article on Radio 4's Today programme this morning (scroll to 2:50:44), however, Professor Marcus du Sautoy of Oxford University refuted the claims of the proof and managed to plug his book at the same time, of course.

The Clay Institute is clearly unconvinced about the proof, stating that the problem remains unsolved.