[Anatoly] Vershik and [Jim] Carlson were having tea. Yau’s name came up; he was apparently holding a conference to celebrate his fifty-ninth birthday. “I don’t understand it,” Vershik grumbled. “I know Gian-Carlo Rota held a conference to celebrate his sixty-fourth birthday, but sixty-four is two to the sixth power — and what is fifty nine? A prime number!” -- Perfect Rigor, Masha Gessen Original post