The Infinite Heist - Part 1

In 1874, Georg Cantor published one of the most important papers in math’s 4,000-year history. Some ideas in it were stolen. On this episode of The Quanta Podcast, the first of a two-parter, host Samir Patel speaks with math editor Jordana Cepelewicz about the hard-fought journey to embed the concept of infinity into math’s foundations. The real story is a lot more complicated than the one remembered in math history. These episodes are based on a recent story ; stay tuned for the conclusion next week. Explore our new special series, “ The Evolving Foundations of Math ,” on our website. Each week on The Quanta Podcast, Quanta Magazine editor in chief Samir Patel speaks with the people behind the award-winning publication to navigate through some of the most important and mind-expanding questions in science and math.

You can listen to The Infinite Heist - Part 1 online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Infinite Heist - Part 1 is an episode from Quanta Science Podcast by Quanta Magazine.

This episode is 31:30 long.

This episode was published on Mar 3, 2026.

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