A Korean mathematician has solved one of geometry’s most stubborn puzzles, ending a problem that has challenged researchers for nearly 60 years and earning global recognition for a proof achieved without the help of computers.
Dr Baek Jin Eon, 31, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study, has demonstrated that no shape larger than a previously proposed design can move through a right-angled corridor of fixed width, resolving the so-called “moving sofa problem” that was first posed in 1966.
