2020s Biggest Breakthroughs in Math and Computer Science

For mathematicians and computer scientists, 2020 was full of disciplinespanning discoveries and celebrations of creativity. We d like to take a moment to recognize some of these achievements. 1. A landmark proof simply titled MIP RE establishes that quantum computers calculating with entangled qubits can theoretically verify the answers to an enormous set of problems. Along the way, the five computer scientists who authored the proof also answered two other major questions: Tsirelsons problem in physics, about models of particle entanglement, and a problem in pure mathematics called the Connes embedding conjecture. 2. In February, graduate student Lisa Piccirillo dusted off some longknown but littleutilized mathematical tools to answer a decadesold question about knots. A particular knot named after the legendary mathematician John Conway had long evaded mathematical classification in terms of a higherdimensional property known as sliceness. But by developing a version of t br,