Nigerian Professor Solves 156 Year Old Maths Problem To Win $1m Prize

Some people are just born to be brilliant. It is a wonderful gift to be able to solve a puzzle that has been unsolved for a century and half. 

A Nigerian professor has received a $1 million (£660,000) prize for solving a maths problem that had confused scholars for more than 150 years.

Dr Opeyemi Enoch, from the Federal University in the ancient city of Oye Ekiti, solved one of the seven millennium problems in mathematics.

A solution has been found to the Riemann Hypothesis Photo: ALAMY

The professor was able to finally provide a solution to the Riemann Hypothesis first proposed by German mathematician Bernhard Riemann in 1859, earning him the $1m prize.

Nigerian academic solves 150-year old math problem https://t.co/6KYj4wtc2i pic.twitter.com/ZrIOaiQ40F

— This Is Africa (@ThisIsAfricaTIA) November 17, 2015

He announced his findings at the International Conference of Mathematics and Computer Science in Austria, Vienna, exactly 156 years to the day it had been put forward by Riemann.

"Dr Enoch first investigated and then established the claims of Riemann," said a statement from the university where he teaches.

"He went on to consider and to correct the misconceptions that were communicated by mathematicians in the past generations, thus paving way for his solutions and proofs to be established.

"He also showed how other problems of this kind can be formulated and obtained the matrix that Hilbert and Poly predicted will give these undiscovered solutions. He revealed how these solutions are applicable in cryptography, quantum information science and in quantum computers."

According to software engineer Robert Elder, the complex Riemann conundrum "is based on an observation Riemann made about the equation: Every value of the equation that makes it go to zero seems to lie on the exact same line."

The seven millennium problems are set out by the Massachusetts-based Clay Mathematical Institute as being the "most difficult" to solve.

Explaining the hypothesis they state: "The prime number theorem determines the average distribution of the primes.

"The Riemann Hypothesis tells us about the deviation from the average. Formulated in Riemann's 1859 paper, it asserts that all the 'non-obvious' zeros of the zeta function are complex numbers with real part 1/2."

The Clay Mathematical Institute says its aim is to increase mathematical knowledge, encourage gifted student to pursue maths careers and recognise extraordinary maths achievements.