The Big Secret Behind Math's Greatest Discovery

By Quanta Magazine

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For thousands of years, mathematicians avoided the concept of infinity. Then, in 1874, Georg Cantor published a four-page paper that changed mathematics forever. Hidden inside was a shocking claim: some infinities are larger than others. Today, Cantor is celebrated as the father of set theory and one of the great mathematical revolutionaries. But newly uncovered letters reveal a far more complicated story — one involving collaboration, secrecy, and plagiarism. Read more at Quanta Magazine: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-man-who-stole-infinity-20260225/ --------- Quanta Magazine is an editorially independent publication supported by the Simons Foundation. We focus on developments in mathematics, theoretical physics, theoretical computer science and the basic life sciences.

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