Mathematicians have many talents! In this episode, mathematician Ben McCarty plays and sings the song, “Swing that Hammer.” Ben is a professor of mathematics at the University of Memphis. He is my coauthor on a new paper that proves the Birkhoff diamond is reducible using topological quantum field theory, which is the first step in all currently correct proofs of the four color theorem. We show this can be done using state systems in Quantum Mechanics — the first proof of its kind.

CHANNEL: Geometry and Topology Today
© 2025 Scott Baldridge and David Shea Vela-Vick