In the University of Bradford archives, there is a copy of a letter addressed to former Prime Minister Ted Heath, asking if he would contribute to a Quakers' appeal to fund a School of Peace Studies. It was the early 1970s, the Vietnam War still raged on, but in a pocket of Yorkshire, a bold and ambitious campaign of hope was being carried out.
These curves defined by very simple equations are shrouded in mystery and elegance and as you will soon see, this theory connects various important fields of mathematics because it turns out that elliptic curves are more than just curves.