One, two, many: individuality and collectivity in mathematics (Q536597)

This paper is concerned with some interesting topics in the history of mathematics. A short introduction that includes details about Fermat's last theorem, the interest of the young Newton on gravity, the last night of Galois before his duel, the mathematical isolation of Abel in Norway, and others. Next, the author recalls some personal remembrances about his visit to Gel'fand in Moscow in 1972--1973. In a conversation about representation theory, Gel'fand told to him that there were only ten people in the world who really understood this mathematical theory. The next sections are entitled ``Bers Mafia'' (with reference to Lipman Bers, professor at New York University and Columbia University) and ``The Riemann Hypothesis'' (with details about some mathematicians who tried to solve this celebrated problem). The last section provides useful details about the Polymath Project, which is an Internet-based effort to achieve massive mathematical collaboration. The administrators of this blog are Tim Gowers, Gil Kalai, Michael Nielsen, and Terence Tao.