First, the depth, power, and sheer beauty of the ideas they convey. Einstein’s theory of relativity (both special and general), quantum mechanics, group theory, infinity and the infinitesimal, Turing’s theory of computability and the “decision problem,” Gödel’s incompleteness theorems, prime numbers and the Riemann zeta conjecture, category theory, topology, higher dimensions, fractals, statistical regression and the “bell curve,” the theory of truth—these are among the most thrilling (and humbling) intellectual achievements I’ve encountered in my life.
