Nigerian Mathematician’s Claim He Solved ‘Millennium Problem’ Proved To Be False

On Tuesday, the news site Quartz revealed that the story, widely published by the international media, claiming Opeyemi Enoch, a Nigerian professor of mathematics solved the Riemann Zeta Hypothesis was false. 

The Riemann Zeta Hypothesis was created by the German mathematician Bernhard Riemann in 1859.

The Clay Mathematics Institute, an American organization, designated the Riemann Zeta Hypothesis as one of seven Millennium problems.  Any individual who can solve a Millennium problem will be rewarded with $1 million by the Clay Mathematics Institute. 

Despite early reports stating that Mr. Enoch solved the hypothesis, the institute refused to confirm his claims of finding a solution to one of their Millennium problems. 

In an audio interview with BBC, Mr. Enoch claimed that he was approached by his students to solve the hypothesis.  During the interview he claimed that the prospect of a $1 million reward did not motivate him, rather he wanted to show his students his work in “solving” the problem.

According to Quartz Mr. Enoch’s academia.edu profile has the “proof” of the “solution” to the Riemann Hypothesis.  However, subsequent investigations indicated that his “proof” was plagiarized.

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