They were intensely competitive and were always trying tooutdo one another, likemathematiciansorphysiciststoday—maybe likeanyone who has ever done anythingreally well.
To Westerners who see China's math students regularly ranking near the top in international comparisons and Chinese mathematicians populating the math faculties at the finest overseas universities, Yau's crusade seems like overkill.
Arran has said he would like to solve the Riemann hypothesis - a theory about the patterns of prime numbers which has baffled the greatest mathematicians for 150 years.