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For Algorithms, Memory Is a Far More Powerful Resource Than Time
One computer scientist’s “stunning” proof is the first progress in 50 years on one of the most famous questions in computer science.
A pair of yoga mats have transformed a window ledge into a makeshift reading nook, and the desk is tucked into an oddly shaped corner, freeing up room for a couch facing a large whiteboard brimming with mathematical scribblings. “There is a certain advantage to [having] to improvise and overcome difficulties.” Hartmanis immigrated to the United States in 1949, and worked a series of odd jobs—building agricultural machinery, manufacturing steel and even serving as a butler—while studying mathematics at the University of Kansas City. In 2010, four years after receiving his doctorate, he proved a milestone result —a small step, but the largest in decades, toward solving the most famous question in theoretical computer science, about the nature of hard problems.
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