Counting From Infinity: Yitang Zhang and the Twin Prime Conjecture

George Csicsery's documentary, sponsored by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, features erudite discussion of an arcane area of numbers theory—the gaps between prime numbers. While that might suggest this is intended for a select audience of specialists, Counting From Infinity actually has broader appeal because it also offers an amiable portrait of the man who solved a related problem. Yitang Zhang was a largely unknown adjunct calculus instructor at the University of New Hampshire who spent years searching for a solution to a quandary that had stumped mathematicians for a century and a half. In 2013, Zhang published a seminal article in the Annals of Mathematics that won him a slew of awards, including a MacArthur “genius grant.” Csicsery here interweaves a biography of Zhang, covering his difficult adolescence in China during the Cultural Revolution, his emigration to the U.S. for graduate work, his spotty employment before landing a part-time position at the University of New Hampshire, and his marriage (Zhang's wife is one of a handful of interviewees here not mathematically inclined). Zhang emerges as a reserved person who, while not unappreciative of the recognition that his work has received, remains quite content with an unostentatious lifestyle. DVD extras include bonus featurettes. An engaging portrayal that even general viewers not attuned to abstruse mathematical theory can enjoy, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)