Obscura

11. Chudnovsky

The Chudnovsky were two brothers (David and Gregory) whose love for math helped them overcome poverty and disease. Both brothers were born in the Soviet Union near Kiev. Although Gregory was five years younger than David, it was clear that Gregory had a definite talent for math. Both brothers, though, got a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, Gregory was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder of the muscles. Soon, it got so bad that the brothers had to move to Paris and then the U.S.A. for help. At first the Soviet Union didn't let them, but once the media heard about it, they were permitted to leave because of much pressure from the world. The brothers bought an apartment in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and rented two supercomputers to calculate PI on. There were two problems though. The first one was that Gregory was writing, running, and monitoring the whole PI-calculating process from in bed. The other was that they were renting a supercomputer and living the rest of their life off of their wives' pay. In addition, a supercomputer generates a lot of heat. The brothers were forced to build their own supercomputer from parts in their apartment, and they still had a money problem. Fortunately, Gregory was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in mathematics. This not only solved their money problem for many years, but gave Gregory full medical coverage too. The money helped them upgrade their supercomputer. That computer helped them set world records in calculating PI with 480 million, 1 billion, and 8 billion digits. Unfortunately, they don't hold the record now.

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posted by Cobb @ 3:07 PM