Saturday, January 22, 2011

End of World Postponed for Now


Here is a much nicer California traffic-story;  humanity is redeemed.

Shortly after the proof of the Heawood conjecture had been announced, Ringel was driving along the California expressway and was stopped by a traffic cop for a minor traffic violation.  As soon as he found that the culprit’s name was ‘Ringel’, the cop asked, ‘Are you the one that solved the Heawood conjecture?’  Ringel, surprised, admitted that he was, and was duly let off with only a warning.

[Recounted in Robin Wilson, Four Colors Suffice (2002), p. 172]

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