Counting from Infinity: Yitang Zhang and the Twin Prime Conjecture

Plot Summary

In April 2013, a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire submitted a paper to the Annals of Mathematics. Within weeks word spread: a little-known mathematician, with no permanent job, working in complete isolation, had made an important breakthrough toward solving the Twin Prime Conjecture. Yitang Zhang's techniques for bounding the gaps between primes soon led to rapid progress by the Polymath Group, and a further innovation by James Maynard.

Top Cast

Zhang Yitang Himself

Erica Klarreich Herself

Andrew Granville Himself

Terence Tao Himself

James Maynard Himself