Birth of a Theorem

Combining poetry, music and formidable sleuthing, the charismatic Cédric Villani skilfully unfolds the complex yet wondrous world of mathematics. Birth of a Theorem inspires and entertains! – Patti Smith
Cédric Villani’s BIRTH OF A THEOREM is like no other book about maths: an unfiltered view into the daily life, and the soul, of a great mathematician, as he approaches and finally conquers a major result – Jordan Ellenberg
This man could plainly do for mathematics what Brian Cox has done for physics…. [Birth of a Theorem] is one of the most peculiar and entertaining science books you will ever read – Brian Appleyard * Sunday Times *
Villani has written probably the most unlikely unputdownable thriller of the decade – Richard Morrison * The Times *
A fine book from a brilliant man – Rod Liddle * Sunday Times *
A delightful foray into an esoteric world, full of insights and necessary digressions * New Scientist *
The most glamorous maths book ever * The Bookseller *
Compellingly readable…. I am not aware of any other account that so lucidly describes the desolation felt by mathematicians when a solution simply refuses to be found…. But as Birth of a Theorem shows, the exhilaration when a breakthrough occurs is beyond compare – Noel-Ann Bradshaw * Times Higher Education *
Birth of a Theorem is a remarkable book and I urge everyone to buy it – Alexander Masters * Spectator *
Something of a hero in this world… Villani can do to a complex mathematical equation what Franz Liszt used to do to a piano keyboard, and as it happens he dresses like Franz Liszt as well – Tom Sutcliffe * Start the Week & Today Programme *

Cedric Villani is a French mathematician who has received many international awards for his work including the Jacques Herbrand Prize, the Prize of the European Mathematical Society, the Fermat Prize and the Henri Poincare Prize. In 2010 he was awarded the Fields Medal, the International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, for his work on Landau damping and the Boltzmann equation. Often called ‘the mathematicians’ Nobel Prize’, it is awarded every four years and is viewed by some as the highest honour a mathematician can achieve. He is a professor at Lyon University and Director of the Institut Henri Poincare in Paris, working primarily on partial differential equations and mathematical physics.

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