Are there any examples of mathematical crackpots who turned out to be right? By crackpot, I mean someone who is not a mathematician whose mathematical theories were not taken seriously, but turned out to be correct.
Crackpots who turned out to be right.
-
0I completely agree wity Phira: to call "crackpot" to someone holding a position against the status quo is unfair and, afaik, not existent *usually* at least within the mathematical community. A crackpot is someone who won't hear criticism, reasoning and someone who won't learn. Anyway, and even accepting the non-usually accepted definition of Sureshs, I can't find examples. Lofti Zadeh was an engineer with heave mathematical orientation so I'd consider him to be so, and Perelman is, of course, a trained mathematician. – 2012-12-08
2 Answers
Legend has it that Pythagoras would put to death anyone who promoted the idea that $\sqrt{2}$ was irrational. To the Pythagoreans, surely such an individual would be considered a crackpot. They're ideas turned out to be right in the end, nevertheless.
-
1The reason for that was quite different. The Pythagoreans knew $\sqrt{2}$ was irrational (there are some suggestions that they themselves have simply "borrowed" that knowledge from Egyptian mathematicians) but they considered this a "secret" knowledge which was not to be disclosed to the uninitiated. Thus death threats... – 2017-02-07
While he should never be called a crackpot, the story of Ramanujan is certainly interesting and illustrates that good math might start life in obscurity. When he sent his work to Cambridge, it was initially written off as nonsense because the notation and logical structure wasn't standard. It wasn't until Hardy saw his work and realized Ramanujan's talent and brought him to England.
Also, I agree with the above comment - if someone (anyone) creates mathematics that stand the test of logic and time, that person is by definition a mathematician. It doesn't matter what their "job title" is. A doctor who makes art is still an artist!
-
0You're right, I remembered the story a bit wrong. He had tried to contact others before Hardy and they had ignored him. Moot point anyway, question is closed... – 2012-12-07