Proof Positive?

The problem was included in a celebrated list drawn up by David Hilbert at the dawn on the twentieth century, which was like a map of the mathematical universe for academic explorers and treasure hunters. We have already cited his challenge to posterity in Chapter 1. Some of Hilbert’s treasures have been found from time to time, but the key to Kepler’s conjecture lay deeply buried. As D. J. Muder said, “It’s one of those problems that tells us that we are not as smart as we think we are.”