Who Killed Professor X?

By Thodoris Andriopoulos

'A wonderful booklet of fiction, but based on historical incidents… a fantastic present that you can give to anybody between 9 and 99'

– Adhemar Bultheel, European Mathematical Society

An ingenious graphic novel that is both a historical novel as well as an entertaining way of using mathematics to solve a crime.

In 1900 the city of Paris hosts one of the most important conferences in the history of mathematics. The main speaker, the renowned Professor X, gives a talk focusing on the power of mathematics to lead us with certainty to the truth. That same evening Professor X is found dead in his hotel room. Foul play is suspected.

Chief Inspector Gerard takes up the case. When he examines the suspects, all of whom are mathematicians attending the conference, he finds that each of their statements leads to a mathematical problem. Gerard therefore enlists the aid of his mathematician friend, Kurt, and together they set out to discover who killed Professor X. Do numbers always tell the truth? Or don’t they? The case will require all their mathematical powers of deduction and the answer will surprise everyone…

An ingenious murder mystery, Who Killed Professor X? is based on actual historical figures – the plot, the possible motives of the suspects, and the elements of their characters. It concludes with brief biographies of the real-life mathematicians and solutions to the mathematical problems. The difficulty of the puzzles can adjusted to suit the target audience – and readers without any mathematic knowledge at all can simply enjoy the story while learning about some of mathematics’ most famous names, episodes and theories.