Riemann Notebook

Andrew Robinson

Description

Did the 19th century German mathematician Bernhard Riemann discover more about the intricacies of prime numbers than he published? Did a notebook survive the clear-out of his papers following his sudden death in Italy? Could this notebook enable the breaking of 21st century internet security? Part biography, part thriller, The Riemann Notebook is the story of the search for a lost notebook and the secrets it may contain by two idealistic academics and by international security organisations with conflicting motivations.

Sujets

• Gran Londres
• Italy
• Greater London
• My Last Duchess
• Germany
• Thriller
• Grand Londres
• London
• Cambridge

Informations

• Publié par: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Date de parution: 10 avril 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838595722
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Copyright © 2020 Andrew Robinson

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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ISBN 9781838595722

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Contents
PART 1
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7

PART 2
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13

PART 3
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16

PART 4
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20

PART 5
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24

PART 6
CHAPTER 25
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
There has to be inspiration for anybody embarking on a first novel. Mine came more than 10 years ago from reading Music of the Primes by Marcus du Sautoy, who first introduced me to Bernhard Riemann the mathematician and the importance of prime numbers in encryption. The idea of Riemann’s missing papers is mentioned in this book. The book is also a wonderful introduction to the world of prime numbers and there is entertainment on every page.

John Derbyshire’s Prime Obsession gave me additional detail about Riemann the man and his short but important life. Both these books are pitched at non-mathematicians. I am no mathematician but I do understand why Riemann is up there in the pantheon with Euclid, Euler, Newton, Gauss and other greats.

Enough is Enough by Dan O’Neill and Rob Dietz is also a wonderful read for those interested in ‘alternative economics’, and I acknowledge this book, and the authors, as a source of the ideas behind the character of Mike Edwards. I was introduced to this book by my wife, Kathy, who attended a lecture in London by Dan O’Neill organised by the charity Population Matters.

Other sources include Burning Question by Mike Berners-Lee, Fragile Empire by Ben Judah, the Economist magazine (which I have read all my life and whose ideas filter into my memory) and Wikipedia - how can any writer of fiction or memoir write without the ability to research quickly, and usually accurately, that this wonderful information source provides?

When doing research in Goettingen, I was amazed at the friendly help I got from people, young and old, whom I met, often without introduction, during my visit. Some may feel they are in the book as characters, but all names have been changed, and I hope no-one feels I have taken liberties.

There is an explanation of the RSA code in Marcus du Sautoy’s book.

I thank my wife, who suggested that I join a creative writing workshop, run as part of a literary festival in Mexico, by her friend the author Susan Page. I had no great expectations but I was full of admiration for all writers by the time the workshop had ended. I know now that writing doesn’t just happen – it takes time and effort. It’s taken me three years to get to this point!

The Riemann Notebook is a work of fiction and except for those mentioned by name, who are obviously real people, everybody else in the book is fictional. Any errors are entirely my own.

Andrew Robinson
Rutland, England
October 2017

PART 1
CHAPTER 1
Goettingen, Germany, October 1859
Bernhard Riemann woke with the autumn morning light streaming into his bedroom. Through the window he could see the mist lying like a silk sheet over the newly ploughed fields. The previous month he had moved to the Observatory with his two surviving sisters, Ida and Helene, and his housekeeper , following his appointment as Mathematics professor at Goettingen University. Riemann had also been elected to the prestigious Berlin Academy and it was a tradition for new members to present an original paper. He had chosen to talk about a discovery he had made concerning prime numbers, even though this was not his main research interest. Nevertheless, prime numbers had always been around him at Goettingen because of the work of the preceding professors, Gauss and Dirichlet. The deaths of these two great mentors in the last four years had coincided with the deaths of his father, brother and sister. His mother had died many years before. To gain relief from these painful memories he had immersed himself in his work. He loved his sisters but they didn’t share his passion for mathematics.

Riemann hadn’t published much: he would only do so when he was absolutely sure of his work, which was often difficult with mathematics, and made harder still by his perfectionist personality. His paper on complex functions in 1857 had established his reputation and this had lightened the dark depression that had been his constant companion for most of his life.

Riemann liked to walk early most mornings. He had walked to school as a child and he enjoyed then the peacefulness of being alone. The Observatory had been built fifty years earlier by George III outside the town to give a clear view of the night sky, so his walk today began in the countryside. The mist was clearing as the autumn sun rose in the sky. Riemann could feel the sun’s warmth as he walked through the Geismar gate into the town. On this important day he decided to walk to the Alte Aula, where 5 years earlier he had presented his Habilitation lecture. The imposing great hall of the University, with its symmetrical stone facade and large windows dominated Wilhelmsplatz. Riemann was dressed in a three quarter length jacket over dark trousers. A small silk bowtie under a stiff collar contrasted with his white shirt. A neat beard and his thinning dark hair framed his face; he looked older than his 33 years. His rimless glasses made his brown eyes seem small.
Some days he walked to the University Botanical Gardens and, when he had time, he would go into the recently opened Orangerie. The solitary walks helped order his thoughts, but sometimes he felt his mind wandering uncontrollably. He would pass people and not always notice them, even when they greeted him.

When he returned to the Observatory his housekeeper, Frau Zoller, as usual asked if he had enjoyed his walk . She was a fastidious woman in her late fifties whom Riemann had employed two years ago when his income had improved after his paper was published. Her husband had died and her son had left home to become a teacher. She had moved with Riemann to the Observatory from his previous lodgings in Kurze Geismarstrasse in the centre of town. Frau Zoller liked the shy man whose study was always a jumble of papers and notes but she couldn’t understand how anyone could work in such a state of disorder.

Today some colleagues would come to the Observatory and he would present the paper he had prepared for the Academy in Berlin. He was never comfortable talking in public even to colleagues he respected, but he believed his work on prime numbers contained an important insight that would bring order to their apparent randomness.

Riemann could not be aware of the consequences that his work on prime numbers would have more than 100 years later. He was also unaware that the happiest days of his life were ahead although they would be short-lived.
Cambridge, England, July 2013
Louise Lamaison was cycling from the Isaac Newton Institute, the dramatic brick building with a slate roof which is the modern home for Mathematics research at the University of Cambridge, to her flat on the outskirts of the city where she lived alone. It was a balmy summer evening, following a hot day. Her high-waisted black trousers and cream blouse emphasised her long legs. Her dark hair was tied back in a ponytail. She wore large round sunglasses.

As Louise eased her bike through the traffic, she thought back to her childhood and reflected how she had become a lecturer and researcher at one of the world’s oldest and most famous universities. She was ten when her parents and elder sister were killed in a car accident and she went to live with her grandparents near Guildford. She often thought of her grandfather, who had died just after she had graduated with First Class Honours, and how proud he was of her – he had loved maths at school but the war had got in the way of his going to university. She remembered how he had encouraged her right through her time at the local comprehensive school, where she was the only student in her year to go to Cambridge. Also, how her grandfather had played number games with her when she was a child, much to the bemusement of her grandmother who had never understood the fascination.

Louise had grown up used to her own company and she had continued a largely independent lifestyle in Cambridge, which left her free to focus on the maths research she loved. Her