@binbadende
As Dave got his fair share of praise in the comments and the real world, I like to thank and praise the "trained" scientists for supporting Daves' finding and setting his name even first in the publication. I like it!
@GinHindew110
Dave is a case of someone reaching an abstract solution after a life of empirical work, actually pretty common for craftsmen, but he knew to contact the people who could distill it into formal knowledge A great example of reaching out to people with similar goals but different methods
@C-Llama
That is not the guy I was expecting to see singlehandedly solve a 50 year-old math problem. What a legend
@lucbloom
The way he casually proceeds to discover more versions makes it apparent this discovery was not a fluke but a stroke of genius! So weird that a cut-up multi-hexagon didn’t prop up in an exhaustive search of some graduate’s geometric sim or something.
@tineboes2726
Can you imagine those mathmaticians while working on the first proof? “Alright guys, this is big. We’ve possibly got an Ein Stein tile, we need to spend all our time with this. This is a mathematic breakthrou-“ phone rings “Dave? What is it? We’re working on proving your tile!” “I’ve found another one.” … … … “What?” “I’ve found another one.” Dave is a goddamn legend!
@Bafflementation
Dave's achievements make me think of Escher, another person who approached quite mathematical geometric concepts from an artistic standpoint.
@jean-philippegrenier120
it's amazing that Dave got credit, so many academics would have stolen/undermined his contribution. Bravo!
@daniellemurnett2534
Genuine props to Dave for discovering a full hat trick of advancements in aperiodic tilings.
@andoletube
I love how Dave didn't just strike gold once, but three times and counting. It points to a way of thinking that isn't available to most mathematicians - and it seems to come relatively easily to Dave.
@prydin
I love stories of people with weird abilities. Without any formal training, this guy seems to have brain that’s somehow wired to find aperiodic tiles. It just goes to show how amazing the human race is!
@puffpio
One thing I love is that Dave is credited as lead author on the paper, even though the way the story played out he discovers the shape versus created the mathematical proof (eg inspiration was the lead over perspiration)
@astralshore
This is so fascinating. I would never have thought that new mathematical discoveries could be made by mere mortals at this point. I was certain that would be a “a computer calculated the aperiodic monotile” video. Go Dave!
@thegzak
Let’s not overlook the phenomenal job Jade has done here distilling the essence of the proof for a broad audience - awesome video, as usual!!
@RoyArrowood
As a math enthusiasts in the middle of a home remodel, I think my tile guy is going to be extremely upset that I learned about this
@ZendorOne
Damn the production work of this video was insane. I really enjoyed the visualisations a lot. Thank you for all that effort.
@rescuearch7802
The amazing thing is that David Smith was not the first amateur mathematician to make a series of breakthroughs in tiling theory. In the 1970s, amateur mathematician Marjorie Rice discovered four different, previously unknown pentagonal tilings on the plane (among many other findings involving tilings). In 1999, one of those pentagonal tilings was made into actual floor tiles and used to tile the foyer of the headquarters of the Mathematics Association of America, in Washington DC.
@andrewkamoha4666
15:01 "a lot of you wouldn't be happy unless I talked about possible practical applications " Amazing! She knows us very well !!!
@OngoGablogian185
Dave clearly always dressed like a legend, but now he literally is one. Very cool stuff.
@vaiapatta8313
There are some areas of STEM where you can contribute even without a formal background; where curiosity, lots of experimentation, an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject and a keen eye can carry you pretty far. My warm congratulations to Dave for spotting not one, not two, but three solutions to a half-century-old problem. Not that the three other collaborators don't also deserve credit for the rigourous proof, an essential part of the full solution. But this is the type of problem where coming up with a good conjecture is the most difficult part, not proving it. It was mainly Dave's insight and observation (and hard work, presumably) that cracked this one. So yeah... congrats to all, but Dave's the man! :P
@upandatom