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In 1993, Andrew Wiles stunned the mathematical world with a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. But behind this brilliant achievement was the work of several previous mathematicians. This is the story of one of them.
Yutaka 'Toyo' Taniyama was born in Kisai, a small town near Tokyo, on November 12, 1927. His father was a rural doctor who was active even in his eighties. Yutaka on the other hand, was a sickly boy who once withdrew for two years from school because of tuberculosis. So it was at the advanced age of 25 that he graduated from the University of Tokyo. He remained there first as a research student, later as a lecturer.
Japan was a developing country at the time, so while he was not destitute, Yutaka was not well off either. He lived in a small (seven square metres!) apartment overlooking a narrow street filled with small shops, its lively atmosphere punctuated every few minutes by a passing train.
The photo on the cover pictures him in a suit, but that does not mean Taniyama gave a thought to his appearance. The suit in question was actually a quite nauseating blue-green one with an even more revolting metallic sheen! The only reason he wore it was that no-one else in his family would. He was also quite incapable of tying his shoelaces, so they usually followed him round like a pair of well-trained dogs.
He tended to sleep in the early morning and get up at lunchtime. He played no musical instrument, didn't drink or smoke, hated travelling, was no athlete, read few novels. His only hobbies were listening to music (favourite: Beethoven's Eighth Symphony), watching movies (favourite: The King and I) and writing articles on academic matters. He didn't show off his brilliance and always gave down-to-earth advice to his juniors.
As for mathematics, he lapped up everything he could find, particularly in number theory. He even wrote a book on it (in Japanese) with Goro Shimura. But his results were very deep and this is not the place to mention them. I could however, throw in this quite enigmatic quote from his friend Shimura:
''... he was gifted with the special capability of making many mistakes, mostly in the right direction. I envied him for this, and tried in vain to imitate him, but found it quite hard to make good mistakes.''
In November 1957, he met a girl called Misako Suzuki and they got engaged a few months later. By the time of his 31st birthday they were busy preparing for their wedding. Five days later, he killed himself. The suicide note was three pages long, and included this extract:
''Until yesterday I have had no definite intention of killing myself. But more than a few must have noticed I have been tired both physically and mentally. As to the cause of my suicide, I don't quite understand it myself, but it is not the result of a particular incident, nor of a specific matter. Merely may I say, I am in the frame of mind that I lost confidence in my future. There may be some to whom my suicide will be troubling or a blow to a certain degree. I sincerely hope that this incident will cast no dark shadow over the future of that person. At any rate I cannot deny that this is a kind of betrayal, but please excuse it as my last act in my own way, as I have been doing all my life.''
He then went on to describe how his belongings were to be shared out, which books had to be returned to which library, where he was with the courses he was teaching, and so on. Meticulous and considerate to the end.
His friends were utterly shocked and his fiancee killed herself less than a month later 'to join him'.
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