The Last Theorem
Encyclopedia
The Last Theorem is a 2008 science fiction
novel written by Arthur C. Clarke
and Frederik Pohl
. It was first published in the United Kingdom
by HarperVoyager
in July 2008, and in the United States
by Del Rey Books
in August 2008. The book is about a young Sri Lanka
n mathematician who finds a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
, while an alien invasion of Earth is in progress.
The novel began as Clarke's, but when ill health and a psychological (or possibly neurological) form of writer's block
prevented him from making progress, he handed over his notes and the incomplete manuscript to Pohl, who, in close consultation with Clarke, completed the novel. Clarke reviewed the final manuscript in early March 2008, just days before he died.
In general The Last Theorem was not well received by critics. Entertainment Weekly
in their review of the novel said that "uneven pacing and tone mar an intriguing cautionary tale." The Los Angeles Times
wondered how stable the manuscript was when it was published, adding that it does nothing to "burnish the legacy of either of its authors." The San Francisco Chronicle
, however, described the novel as a "fitting valedictory for Clarke, [...] and a reminder of Pohl's great relevance to a genre he has championed for more than 70 years."
, the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke
and Frederik Pohl
collaborated for the first time on The Last Theorem. The novel initially was Clarke's, and he began working on it in early 2004. But in 2006, at the age of 88, ill health brought on by complications from post-polio syndrome
, and writer's block
, impeded his progress, and he asked Pohl for help. Pohl explained: "Arthur said to me that he woke up one morning and didn't know how to write any of the books he had contracted. The stories had just gone out of his head." Clarke gave Pohl a 40–50 page manuscript plus roughly 50 pages of notes, and over the next two years, Pohl wrote the book. Pohl said that "Everything in the novel is something he either suggested or wrote or I discussed with him." Some of Clarke's notes were so obscure that even Clarke himself could not understand them. Pohl, only two years younger than Clarke, had health problems of his own: he could no longer type and wrote the book out in longhand, leaving it up to his wife to translate his "indecipherable scribbles". Clarke reviewed and approved the final manuscript of The Last Theorem in early March 2008, just days before he died.
Some of the concepts that appear in The Last Theorem originally appeared in Clarke's earlier works. The space elevator
that is built in Sri Lanka
originally featured in The Fountains of Paradise
(1979) where it was also built in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). Because the elevator will work only on or near the equator
, Clarke "moved" Ceylon south to the equator in The Fountains of Paradise, and the equator north to Sri Lanka in The Last Theorem. The solar
powered space yacht race was first featured in a short story of Clarke's, "The Wind from the Sun
" (1964), and the concept of a "mysterious Elder Race" deciding our fate, in this case the Grand Galactics, has appeared in several of Clarke's previous novels, including Childhood's End
(1953) and the Space Odyssey Series (1968–1997). Some of Pohl's earlier themes also appear here, including his human-machine hybrid
which featured in Man Plus
(1976).
Clarke wrote over 30 science fiction novels and over 100 works of short fiction, winning both the Hugo
and Nebula Award
s several times. He moved to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1956 and remained there for the rest of his life. One of his greatest wishes was for peace in Sri Lanka. The Last Theorem is set in his adopted country, and Pohl said that tensions between the Sinhalese
Sri Lankan government and the Tamil liberation army (the Tamil Tigers
) were "major inspirations for the novel".
Pohl's writing career spans 70 years, and includes over 50 science fiction novels and numerous short stories. He also won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards several times. One of Pohl's fascinations has been mathematics, in particular number theory
. He would often spend his spare time "playing" with prime number
s, and even tried to write a formula for generating primes
. But he did invent several mathematical parlour tricks, some of which are featured in The Last Theorem.
in the early- to mid-21st century and follows the life of a mathematician
, Ranjit Subramanian. While studying at Colombo University
, he becomes obsessed with Fermat's Last Theorem
, a conjecture
made by Pierre de Fermat
in 1637, which he claimed to have proved, but never wrote down. The proof eluded mathematicians across the world for over 350 years, until in 1995 British mathematician Andrew Wiles
published a 100-page proof of the theorem
. But not everyone was "satisfied" with Wiles's proof because it used twentieth century mathematical techniques not available in Fermat's time.
In the novel's back-story
, extraterrestrial sapients, the Grand Galactics, are alarmed when they detect the photon
shock wave
s from nuclear bomb detonations on Earth. The Grand Galactics monitor and control the destinies of a number of high-performance sapient races and order one of these races, the Nine Limbeds, to send "cease and desist" messages to Earth. When these messages have no effect, they order the One Point Fives to launch an armada to Earth to exterminate the undesirable species.
Back on Earth, regional conflicts escalate and the United Nations
struggles to contain them. In Sri Lanka, Ranjit unwittingly boards a cruise ship that is hijacked by pirates. When unknown security forces free the ship, Ranjit is arrested on suspicion of terrorism. For six months he is interrogated and tortured, but he cannot supply the information his captors want so he is locked up and "forgotten" for a further 18 months. During this period of incarceration, Ranjit dwells on Fermat's Last Theorem and, after several months, solves it with a three-page proof. Later Ranjit is rescued by a friend from University, Gamini Bandara, who will not reveal whom he is working for or where Ranjit was held captive.
Ranjit submits his proof for publication and achieves worldwide fame. He marries Myra de Soyza, an artificial intelligence
specialist, and embarks on a speaking tour of the world. In the United States, he is briefly recruited by the CIA
to work on cryptography
. Gamini later reveals that he is working for Pax per Fidem (Peace through Transparency), an undercover United Nations organization established to bring about world peace. To achieve this end, Pax per Fidem has developed "Silent Thunder", a non-lethal EMP
nuclear superweapon that renders all electrical equipment in its path inoperable. Silent Thunder is deployed in North Korea
and later in South America, and regional conflicts subside. Gamini invites Ranjit to join Pax per Fidem, but the authoritarian nature of Pax per Fidem and its "new world order" worry Ranjit and Myra, and Ranjit turns down the offer. He does, however, accept a position on the advisory board of an international consortium building a space elevator
in Sri Lanka, chosen because of its position on the equator.
As the One Point Five fleet enters the Solar System
, the Nine Limbeds orbit and observe Earth in cigar-shaped craft, sparking numerous UFO
sightings. A Grand Galactic member, who happens to be passing by, stops to observe the effects of Silent Thunder and returns to the Grand Galactic collective, who immediately suspend the One Point Fives's destruct orders pending further investigation.
The space elevator is completed and, for the first time, people and materials can be lifted into Earth orbit without the need of rockets. Natasha, Ranjit and Myra's daughter, competes in the first solar
powered space yacht race from Earth- to Moon-orbit. But soon after the start of the race, Natasha's yacht malfunctions and she is abducted by the Nine Limbeds, who use a projection of her to interrogate prominent people on Earth, including Ranjit and Gamini, about Silent Thunder. Satisfied that Earth has "reformed", Natasha is returned and the Nine Limbeds broadcast a message to Earth in which they announce that the Grand Galactics have decided not to sterilize Earth, and that the One Point Fives, with their Machine Stored navigators, cannot return home and will land and occupy unused areas of Earth.
The One Point Fives land in the desolate Qattara Depression
in the Libyan Desert
, which they find quite habitable compared to their ruined homeworld. The Americans send B52 bombers to attack the One Point Fives' base, but the aliens electronically disable the aircraft, causing them to crash short of their target. When the US President demands reparations, the One Point Fives provide gold distilled from seawater by way of compensation. With the Grand Galactics absent, the aliens make decisions for themselves: the One Point Fives provide Earth with new forms of power and the Machine Stored reveal mind uploading technology. When Myra dies in a scuba diving
accident, her mind is uploaded into cyberspace
, with Ranjit joining her later.
After 13,000 years the Grand Galactics finally return to Earth and are astounded to see how fast the planet has developed. They had always interfered with the evolution of sentient species they had discovered, believing they could not be trusted to evolve on their own. Impressed with Earth's progress, the Grand Galactic relieve themselves of the burden of watching over intelligent life and hand the task over to Earth.
's ethnic groups: the Sinhalese
, the Tamils and the Portuguese Burghers
.
, in general it has not been well received by critics.
Entertainment Weekly
in their review said that "uneven pacing and tone mar an intriguing cautionary tale. This collaboration, completed before Clarke's death last March, would've made a better solo project for either author." The Washington Post
said that "The Last Theorem reads like a dog-eared album of favorite themes from yesteryear", referring to Clarke and Pohl topics from the authors' earlier works. Thomas M. Wagner at SF Reviews wrote that "The Last Theorem is a book I really resent not liking, because there's so much about it that deserves to be liked." He said that the first two-thirds is "so good [...] it almost, but doesn't quite, make up for the nonsense that overtakes the whole affair at the climax." Wagner felt that the meeting of "two disparate storytelling sensibilities" was "far less harmonious and compatible" than Clarke and Pohl may have imagined. Wagner summed up by saying that "The Last Theorem is not simply an uneven novel. It's a deeply disjointed one, a book that introduces a host of wonderful ideas and sympathetic, believable characters, only to decide it doesn't trust them to carry off the story in the end, ultimately falling back – disastrously – on dated and dubious formula." Sheila Merritt at SciFi Dimensions said that while it should have been "a fine tribute and a fitting farewell to this master of science fiction", it turned out to be an "easy book to put down." She said that the plot "meanders in fits and starts" and that the book is too long for the story it tells. Ed Park of the Los Angeles Times
enjoyed the first third of the book, but said that for the rest, its "winning and winking self-consciousness evaporates." He wondered how stable the manuscript was when it was published, and added that it does nothing to "burnish the legacy of either of its authors."
A common criticism amongst many reviewers was that in spite of its title, no connection is made between Fermat's Last Theorem
and the alien invasion. Alex Kasman at Mathematical Fiction complained about errors in some of the author's descriptions of the mathematical problems, and in particular their unfair treatment of Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
. Some reviewers felt that the characters had not been developed sufficiently. Michael Sims of The Washington Post said that "these characters are so thin you can see through them." The aliens are depicted as cartoon-like figures, and Ranjit does not appear to be affected by his lengthy incarceration, interrogation and torture. Some critics also felt that the book ended "somewhat precipitously", that after the aliens arrived, the crisis was resolved too quickly, giving the impression "that there was at least a good, long chapter missing."
Not all reviews, however, were negative. Nader Elhefnawy at Strange Horizons described the book as an "an interesting experiment". He said that Pohl deserves the credit for "capturing Clarke's voice", and that Clarke also deserves credit for doing something completely different. While he would not recommend the book to readers new to Clarke's work, Elhefnawy said that fans would not regret reading the book. Mark Yon at SFF World said that while this is not one of Clarke's best works, "it is still very good". He said that even though it is a collaboration, the book is still recognisably Clarke, "with the same humour, the same enthusiasm, the great flashes of inspiration, the big ideas and the same curious positivism that underlines most of Sir Arthur’s work. [...] There is a joy throughout here: a joy of learning, of opening up new opportunities and experiences, and a love of mathematics and science." Michael Berry at the San Francisco Chronicle
said that the novel does a "stellar job of conveying some of the intellectual fun that can be had by manipulating math." He said that Sri Lanka
, Clarke's home for most of his life, is brought "vividly to life", and that despite some minor flaws, The Last Theorem is a "fitting valedictory for Clarke, one of science fiction's most acclaimed authors, and a reminder of Pohl's great relevance to a genre he has championed for more than 70 years."
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel written by Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
and Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
. It was first published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by HarperVoyager
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in July 2008, and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books
Del Rey Books is a branch of Ballantine Books, which is owned by Random House and, in turn since 1998, by Bertelsmann AG. It is a separate imprint established in 1977 under the editorship of author Lester del Rey and his wife Judy-Lynn del Rey. It specializes in science fiction and fantasy...
in August 2008. The book is about a young Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n mathematician who finds a short proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two....
, while an alien invasion of Earth is in progress.
The novel began as Clarke's, but when ill health and a psychological (or possibly neurological) form of writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...
prevented him from making progress, he handed over his notes and the incomplete manuscript to Pohl, who, in close consultation with Clarke, completed the novel. Clarke reviewed the final manuscript in early March 2008, just days before he died.
In general The Last Theorem was not well received by critics. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
in their review of the novel said that "uneven pacing and tone mar an intriguing cautionary tale." The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wondered how stable the manuscript was when it was published, adding that it does nothing to "burnish the legacy of either of its authors." The San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, however, described the novel as a "fitting valedictory for Clarke, [...] and a reminder of Pohl's great relevance to a genre he has championed for more than 70 years."
Background
Science fiction Grand MastersDamon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is an award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It is awarded to a living author for lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy. Officially, it is not a Nebula Award though it is awarded at the Nebula ceremony...
, the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
and Frederik Pohl
Frederik Pohl
Frederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
collaborated for the first time on The Last Theorem. The novel initially was Clarke's, and he began working on it in early 2004. But in 2006, at the age of 88, ill health brought on by complications from post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome
Post-polio syndrome is a condition that affects approximately 25–50% of people who have previously contracted poliomyelitis—a viral infection of the nervous system—after the initial infection. Typically the symptoms appear 15–30 years after recovery from the original paralytic attack, at an age of...
, and writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...
, impeded his progress, and he asked Pohl for help. Pohl explained: "Arthur said to me that he woke up one morning and didn't know how to write any of the books he had contracted. The stories had just gone out of his head." Clarke gave Pohl a 40–50 page manuscript plus roughly 50 pages of notes, and over the next two years, Pohl wrote the book. Pohl said that "Everything in the novel is something he either suggested or wrote or I discussed with him." Some of Clarke's notes were so obscure that even Clarke himself could not understand them. Pohl, only two years younger than Clarke, had health problems of his own: he could no longer type and wrote the book out in longhand, leaving it up to his wife to translate his "indecipherable scribbles". Clarke reviewed and approved the final manuscript of The Last Theorem in early March 2008, just days before he died.
Some of the concepts that appear in The Last Theorem originally appeared in Clarke's earlier works. The space elevator
Space elevator
A space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
that is built in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
originally featured in The Fountains of Paradise
The Fountains of Paradise
The Fountains of Paradise is a Hugo and Nebula Award–winning 1979 novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Set in the 22nd century, it describes the construction of a space elevator. This "orbital tower" is a giant structure rising from the ground and linking with a satellite in geostationary orbit at the...
(1979) where it was also built in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). Because the elevator will work only on or near the equator
Equator
An equator is the intersection of a sphere's surface with the plane perpendicular to the sphere's axis of rotation and containing the sphere's center of mass....
, Clarke "moved" Ceylon south to the equator in The Fountains of Paradise, and the equator north to Sri Lanka in The Last Theorem. The solar
Solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
powered space yacht race was first featured in a short story of Clarke's, "The Wind from the Sun
Sunjammer
"Sunjammer" is a science fiction short story by English author Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in 1963. It has also been published under the title "The Wind from the Sun" and has been included into Clarke's 1972 collection of short stories with this title.-Plot summary:John...
" (1964), and the concept of a "mysterious Elder Race" deciding our fate, in this case the Grand Galactics, has appeared in several of Clarke's previous novels, including Childhood's End
Childhood's End
Childhood's End is a 1953 science fiction novel by the British author Arthur C. Clarke. The story follows the peaceful alien invasion of Earth by the mysterious Overlords, whose arrival ends all war, helps form a world government, and turns the planet into a near-utopia...
(1953) and the Space Odyssey Series (1968–1997). Some of Pohl's earlier themes also appear here, including his human-machine hybrid
Cyborg
A cyborg is a being with both biological and artificial parts. The term was coined in 1960 when Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline used it in an article about the advantages of self-regulating human-machine systems in outer space. D. S...
which featured in Man Plus
Man Plus
Man Plus is a 1976 science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1976, was nominated for the Hugo and Campbell Awards, and placed third in the annual Locus Poll in 1977. Pohl teamed up with Thomas T. Thomas to write a sequel, Mars Plus, published in 1994.-Plot...
(1976).
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
and Nebula Award
Nebula Award
The Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
s several times. He moved to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1956 and remained there for the rest of his life. One of his greatest wishes was for peace in Sri Lanka. The Last Theorem is set in his adopted country, and Pohl said that tensions between the Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
Sri Lankan government and the Tamil liberation army (the Tamil Tigers
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...
) were "major inspirations for the novel".
Pohl's writing career spans 70 years, and includes over 50 science fiction novels and numerous short stories. He also won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards several times. One of Pohl's fascinations has been mathematics, in particular number theory
Number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
. He would often spend his spare time "playing" with prime number
Prime number
A prime number is a natural number greater than 1 that has no positive divisors other than 1 and itself. A natural number greater than 1 that is not a prime number is called a composite number. For example 5 is prime, as only 1 and 5 divide it, whereas 6 is composite, since it has the divisors 2...
s, and even tried to write a formula for generating primes
Formula for primes
In number theory, a formula for primes is a formula generating the prime numbers, exactly and without exception. No such formula which is easily computable is presently known...
. But he did invent several mathematical parlour tricks, some of which are featured in The Last Theorem.
Plot summary
The Last Theorem is set in Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
in the early- to mid-21st century and follows the life of a mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, Ranjit Subramanian. While studying at Colombo University
University of Colombo
The University of Colombo is a public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka...
, he becomes obsessed with Fermat's Last Theorem
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two....
, a conjecture
Conjecture
A conjecture is a proposition that is unproven but is thought to be true and has not been disproven. Karl Popper pioneered the use of the term "conjecture" in scientific philosophy. Conjecture is contrasted by hypothesis , which is a testable statement based on accepted grounds...
made by Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat
Pierre de Fermat was a French lawyer at the Parlement of Toulouse, France, and an amateur mathematician who is given credit for early developments that led to infinitesimal calculus, including his adequality...
in 1637, which he claimed to have proved, but never wrote down. The proof eluded mathematicians across the world for over 350 years, until in 1995 British mathematician Andrew Wiles
Andrew Wiles
Sir Andrew John Wiles KBE FRS is a British mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University, specializing in number theory...
published a 100-page proof of the theorem
Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is a proof of the modularity theorem for semistable elliptic curves released by Andrew Wiles, which, together with Ribet's theorem, provides a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. Wiles first announced his proof in June 1993 in a version that was soon recognized...
. But not everyone was "satisfied" with Wiles's proof because it used twentieth century mathematical techniques not available in Fermat's time.
In the novel's back-story
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
, extraterrestrial sapients, the Grand Galactics, are alarmed when they detect the photon
Photon
In physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force...
shock wave
Shock wave
A shock wave is a type of propagating disturbance. Like an ordinary wave, it carries energy and can propagate through a medium or in some cases in the absence of a material medium, through a field such as the electromagnetic field...
s from nuclear bomb detonations on Earth. The Grand Galactics monitor and control the destinies of a number of high-performance sapient races and order one of these races, the Nine Limbeds, to send "cease and desist" messages to Earth. When these messages have no effect, they order the One Point Fives to launch an armada to Earth to exterminate the undesirable species.
Back on Earth, regional conflicts escalate and the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
struggles to contain them. In Sri Lanka, Ranjit unwittingly boards a cruise ship that is hijacked by pirates. When unknown security forces free the ship, Ranjit is arrested on suspicion of terrorism. For six months he is interrogated and tortured, but he cannot supply the information his captors want so he is locked up and "forgotten" for a further 18 months. During this period of incarceration, Ranjit dwells on Fermat's Last Theorem and, after several months, solves it with a three-page proof. Later Ranjit is rescued by a friend from University, Gamini Bandara, who will not reveal whom he is working for or where Ranjit was held captive.
Ranjit submits his proof for publication and achieves worldwide fame. He marries Myra de Soyza, an artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
specialist, and embarks on a speaking tour of the world. In the United States, he is briefly recruited by the CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
to work on cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
. Gamini later reveals that he is working for Pax per Fidem (Peace through Transparency), an undercover United Nations organization established to bring about world peace. To achieve this end, Pax per Fidem has developed "Silent Thunder", a non-lethal EMP
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
nuclear superweapon that renders all electrical equipment in its path inoperable. Silent Thunder is deployed in North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and later in South America, and regional conflicts subside. Gamini invites Ranjit to join Pax per Fidem, but the authoritarian nature of Pax per Fidem and its "new world order" worry Ranjit and Myra, and Ranjit turns down the offer. He does, however, accept a position on the advisory board of an international consortium building a space elevator
Space elevator
A space elevator, also known as a geostationary orbital tether or a beanstalk, is a proposed non-rocket spacelaunch structure...
in Sri Lanka, chosen because of its position on the equator.
As the One Point Five fleet enters the Solar System
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
, the Nine Limbeds orbit and observe Earth in cigar-shaped craft, sparking numerous UFO
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
sightings. A Grand Galactic member, who happens to be passing by, stops to observe the effects of Silent Thunder and returns to the Grand Galactic collective, who immediately suspend the One Point Fives's destruct orders pending further investigation.
The space elevator is completed and, for the first time, people and materials can be lifted into Earth orbit without the need of rockets. Natasha, Ranjit and Myra's daughter, competes in the first solar
Solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
powered space yacht race from Earth- to Moon-orbit. But soon after the start of the race, Natasha's yacht malfunctions and she is abducted by the Nine Limbeds, who use a projection of her to interrogate prominent people on Earth, including Ranjit and Gamini, about Silent Thunder. Satisfied that Earth has "reformed", Natasha is returned and the Nine Limbeds broadcast a message to Earth in which they announce that the Grand Galactics have decided not to sterilize Earth, and that the One Point Fives, with their Machine Stored navigators, cannot return home and will land and occupy unused areas of Earth.
The One Point Fives land in the desolate Qattara Depression
Qattara Depression
The Qattara Depression is a depression in the north west of Egypt in the Matruh Governorate and is part of the Libyan Desert. It lies below sea level and is covered with salt pans, sand dunes and salt marshes. The region extends between latitudes of 28°35' and 30°25' North and longitudes of 26°20'...
in the Libyan Desert
Libyan Desert
The Libyan Desert covers an area of approximately 1,100,000 km2, it extends approximately 1100 km from east to west, and 1,000 km from north to south, in about the shape of a rectangle...
, which they find quite habitable compared to their ruined homeworld. The Americans send B52 bombers to attack the One Point Fives' base, but the aliens electronically disable the aircraft, causing them to crash short of their target. When the US President demands reparations, the One Point Fives provide gold distilled from seawater by way of compensation. With the Grand Galactics absent, the aliens make decisions for themselves: the One Point Fives provide Earth with new forms of power and the Machine Stored reveal mind uploading technology. When Myra dies in a scuba diving
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
accident, her mind is uploaded into cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
, with Ranjit joining her later.
After 13,000 years the Grand Galactics finally return to Earth and are astounded to see how fast the planet has developed. They had always interfered with the evolution of sentient species they had discovered, believing they could not be trusted to evolve on their own. Impressed with Earth's progress, the Grand Galactic relieve themselves of the burden of watching over intelligent life and hand the task over to Earth.
Sri Lankans
These characters come from three of Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
's ethnic groups: the Sinhalese
Sinhalese people
The Sinhalese are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group,forming the majority of Sri Lanka,constituting 74% of the Sri Lankan population.They number approximately 15 million worldwide.The Sinhalese identity is based on language, heritage and religion. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language and the...
, the Tamils and the Portuguese Burghers
Portuguese Burghers
The Portuguese Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. They are Roman Catholic and spoke the Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese language, a creole based on Portuguese. In modern times, English has become the common language while Sinhalese is taught in school...
.
- Ranjit Subramanian (Tamil) – a mathematicalMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
prodigyChild prodigyA child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
and son of a Hindu priestBrahminBrahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
; he achieves worldwide fame after proving Fermat's Last TheoremFermat's Last TheoremIn number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two....
without recourse to methods not available to Fermat in his day - Myra Subramanian (néeMarried and maiden namesA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
de Soyza) (Burgher) – an artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
and prostheticProsthesisIn medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...
specialist and wife of Ranjit - Natasha de Soyza Subramanian – solar windSolar windThe solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
yacht race contestant and daughter of Ranjit and Myra - Gamini Bandara (Sinhalese) – a United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
undercover operative and freshmanFreshmanA freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
friend of Ranjit's at Colombo UniversityUniversity of ColomboThe University of Colombo is a public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka...
Aliens
- Grand Galactics – a sentientSentienceSentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...
entity with the ability to subdivide itself into fragments, each capable of appearing "instantaneously" anywhere in the galaxy; monitors other life and follows the principle of "Protect the harmless. Quarantine the dangerous. Destroy the malevolent – after storing a backup in a secure location" - Grand Galactic client (subordinate) races:
- One Point Fives – a diminutive cat-sized race who all but destroyed their world 20 light-yearLight-yearA light-year, also light year or lightyear is a unit of length, equal to just under 10 trillion kilometres...
s from Earth and now wear shields and prostheses to protect themselves from their toxic environment, increasing their body size 1.5 times; they are the Grand Galactics's "hit men" used to destroy recalcitrant planets - Nine Limbeds – a nine-limbed race with good language skills; used by the Grand Galactics to communicate with other races
- Machine Stored – a "demonic" looking race whose neglect of their planet left it uninhabitable, forcing them to upload themselves into the memory of machines; used by the Grand Galactics as ship navigators and to "backup" other races
- One Point Fives – a diminutive cat-sized race who all but destroyed their world 20 light-year
Reception and analysis
In spite of the publicity The Last Theorem received, that it was Arthur C. Clarke's "last novel", and that it was written by two science fiction Grand MastersDamon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award is an award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It is awarded to a living author for lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy. Officially, it is not a Nebula Award though it is awarded at the Nebula ceremony...
, in general it has not been well received by critics.
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
in their review said that "uneven pacing and tone mar an intriguing cautionary tale. This collaboration, completed before Clarke's death last March, would've made a better solo project for either author." The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
said that "The Last Theorem reads like a dog-eared album of favorite themes from yesteryear", referring to Clarke and Pohl topics from the authors' earlier works. Thomas M. Wagner at SF Reviews wrote that "The Last Theorem is a book I really resent not liking, because there's so much about it that deserves to be liked." He said that the first two-thirds is "so good [...] it almost, but doesn't quite, make up for the nonsense that overtakes the whole affair at the climax." Wagner felt that the meeting of "two disparate storytelling sensibilities" was "far less harmonious and compatible" than Clarke and Pohl may have imagined. Wagner summed up by saying that "The Last Theorem is not simply an uneven novel. It's a deeply disjointed one, a book that introduces a host of wonderful ideas and sympathetic, believable characters, only to decide it doesn't trust them to carry off the story in the end, ultimately falling back – disastrously – on dated and dubious formula." Sheila Merritt at SciFi Dimensions said that while it should have been "a fine tribute and a fitting farewell to this master of science fiction", it turned out to be an "easy book to put down." She said that the plot "meanders in fits and starts" and that the book is too long for the story it tells. Ed Park of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
enjoyed the first third of the book, but said that for the rest, its "winning and winking self-consciousness evaporates." He wondered how stable the manuscript was when it was published, and added that it does nothing to "burnish the legacy of either of its authors."
A common criticism amongst many reviewers was that in spite of its title, no connection is made between Fermat's Last Theorem
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two....
and the alien invasion. Alex Kasman at Mathematical Fiction complained about errors in some of the author's descriptions of the mathematical problems, and in particular their unfair treatment of Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
Wiles's proof of Fermat's Last Theorem is a proof of the modularity theorem for semistable elliptic curves released by Andrew Wiles, which, together with Ribet's theorem, provides a proof for Fermat's Last Theorem. Wiles first announced his proof in June 1993 in a version that was soon recognized...
. Some reviewers felt that the characters had not been developed sufficiently. Michael Sims of The Washington Post said that "these characters are so thin you can see through them." The aliens are depicted as cartoon-like figures, and Ranjit does not appear to be affected by his lengthy incarceration, interrogation and torture. Some critics also felt that the book ended "somewhat precipitously", that after the aliens arrived, the crisis was resolved too quickly, giving the impression "that there was at least a good, long chapter missing."
Not all reviews, however, were negative. Nader Elhefnawy at Strange Horizons described the book as an "an interesting experiment". He said that Pohl deserves the credit for "capturing Clarke's voice", and that Clarke also deserves credit for doing something completely different. While he would not recommend the book to readers new to Clarke's work, Elhefnawy said that fans would not regret reading the book. Mark Yon at SFF World said that while this is not one of Clarke's best works, "it is still very good". He said that even though it is a collaboration, the book is still recognisably Clarke, "with the same humour, the same enthusiasm, the great flashes of inspiration, the big ideas and the same curious positivism that underlines most of Sir Arthur’s work. [...] There is a joy throughout here: a joy of learning, of opening up new opportunities and experiences, and a love of mathematics and science." Michael Berry at the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
said that the novel does a "stellar job of conveying some of the intellectual fun that can be had by manipulating math." He said that Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, Clarke's home for most of his life, is brought "vividly to life", and that despite some minor flaws, The Last Theorem is a "fitting valedictory for Clarke, one of science fiction's most acclaimed authors, and a reminder of Pohl's great relevance to a genre he has championed for more than 70 years."
See also
- Fermat's Last Theorem in fictionFermat's Last Theorem in fictionThe famous problem in number theory known as "Fermat's Last Theorem" has repeatedly received attention in fiction and popular culture.* In the Doctor Who episode "The Eleventh Hour", the Doctor provides "the real" proof of Fermat's theorem to show his bona fides.* In "The Royale", an episode of...
- Space elevators in fictionSpace elevators in fictionThis is a list of occurrences of space elevators in fiction. Some depictions were made before the space elevator concept became fully established.-Novels and Fairy tales:* 2061: Odyssey Three, novel by Arthur C. Clarke...