Karl Sabbagh

“Louis de Branges’s paper was slipped onto the internet without a fuss. There is no evidence that, so far, any mathematician has read it: de Branges and his proof appear to have been ostracised by the profession. I have talked to a number of mathematicians about him and his work over the last few years and it seems that the profession has come to the view that nothing he does in this area will ever bear fruit and therefore his work can be safely ignored. It may be that that a possible solution to one of the most important problems in mathematics is never investigated because no one likes the solution’s author.”