A
shy,
introverted mathematician, it was said. Though stunningly
brilliant, publishing work in the late
1940s in dozens of unrelated fields of
pure mathematical analysis, he never attended
mathematics conferences. It was whispered that he could be
the greatest mathematical mind in history.
Of course, he didn't
exist. He was the
invention of a bunch of
French mathematicians. Each of them had different
specialties in
math, so, as a
joke, they got together, wrote their papers, and submitted them under the
fictional
name.
Something in my
black little heart loves the idea of
hoaxing
mathematicians.