A question that puzzled mathematicians and scientists for centuries seemed impossible to answer: what is the shape of our universe? That question gave rise to Topology, the mathematical study of "shape." At the turn of the 20th century, French mathematician Henri Poincaré made the first conjecture ever in that field, a conjecture which contemporary cosmologists believe has profound implications for our understanding of the shape of the universe. Since Poincaré's Conjecture, scores of mathematicians tried and failed to establish a full proof. THE SPELL OF THE POINCARÉ CONJECTURE tells the story of these attempts.

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