SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA — “Dad, did you ever imagine that your formula would become so famous?” I ask the kind-eyed, 91-year-old person next to me on the patio. My dad, Frank Drake, is quiet for a ...
A series of unsolved puzzles in number theory called Diophantine problems date back to 3,700 years ago. Over the years mathematicians have whittled away at them, and recent work has made significant ...