AI Insight
A team of five mathematicians at ETH Zurich has solved a major open problem in percolation theory related to phase transitions. The breakthrough, achieved in December 2025 by Sahar Diskin, Philip Easo, Ritvik Ramanan Radhakrishnan, Benny Sudakov, and Vincent Tassion, addresses a decades-old puzzle about how materials transition between different states in mathematical models of random networks.
Why it matters
Percolation theory has applications across multiple fields including materials science, epidemiology, and network theory, helping scientists understand how properties spread through connected systems. This theoretical advance could improve models of disease transmission, material conductivity, and information flow through complex networks.
Understand the Science
The week before Christmas 2025, five mathematicians were holed up in a classroom at ETH Zurich. The mood was electric: They were this close to a career-defining breakthrough. The group — consisting of then-postdocs Sahar Diskin and Philip Easo, graduate student Ritvik Ramanan Radhakrishnan, Benny Sudakov, and Vincent Tassion — was perfecting a solution to one of the biggest open problems in…
Source: ‘Stunning’ Percolation Proof Solves Decades-Old Puzzle About Phase Transitions