The greatest mathematician that never lived - Pratik Aghor episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 1, 2026 · 7 MIN

The greatest mathematician that never lived - Pratik Aghor

from TED-Ed · host TED-Ed

Dig into the mystery of Nicolas Bourbaki— one of the most influential mathematicians of all time… who never actually existed.--When Nicolas Bourbaki applied to the American Mathematical Society in the 1950s, he was already one of the most influential mathematicians of his time. He’d published articles in international journals and his textbooks were required reading. Yet his application was firmly rejected for one simple reason: Nicolas Bourbaki did not exist. How is that possible? Pratik Aghor digs into the mystery.Lesson by Pratik Aghor, directed by Província Studio.Animator's website: http://www.provincia.networkSign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterSupport us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagramView full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-greatest-mathematician-that-never-lived-pratik-aghorThank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Paul Aldred-Bann, Manav parmar, Susan Wang, Utkarsh Dubey, Thawsitt, Xuebicoco, Jezabel, Maeve, Kim Humphrey, Kristen Damas, JackKeyton , Matthew D. Vigil, Amin Shahril, Adriano Fontes, Xiao Yu, Fatima Kried, Aravind Battaje, Melissa Suarez, Jason Duncan, Brian A. Dunn, Francisco Amaya, Daisuke Goto, Matt Switzler, Chhunheng Veng, Leonardo Monrroy, Sumedh Ghaisas, Guhten, Amer Harb, Dowey Baothman, Norbert Orgován, Shafeeq Ansari, Gabriel Balsa, Maryam Sultan, Bethany Connor, Jeremy Shimanek, Adam Foreman, Sebastiaan Vleugels, Lâm Nguyễn, Mark Byers, Bradley Heinold, Monkeypatcher, Laurence McMillan, Connor Roberts, Dmitry Neverov, Tonya Ratliff-Garrison, Avinash Amarnath, Eric McDaniel, Cristian Cristian, France Lipužič and EdoKun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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