There have been a number of Scientific discoveries that seemed to be purely scientific curiosities that later turned out to be incredibly useful. Hertz famously commented about the discovery of radio waves: “I do not think that the wireless waves I have discovered will have any practical application.”

Are there examples like this in math as well? What is the most interesting “pure math” discovery that proved to be useful in solving a real-world problem?

  • JackbyDev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    53 months ago

    It’s funny that you’re saying this is “actively suppressed” while not naming this field or providing links for further readings.