Hardy's "Small" Discovery Remembered.

The most beautiful mathematics to Godfrey Harold Hardy was that which had no application. For Hardy, mathematics was purely for intellectual challenge. He justified the pursuit of pure mathematics with the argument that its very “uselessness” meant that it could not be used to cause harm. Hardy went so far as to describe applied mathematics as “ugly”, “trivial”, and “dull” [1]. Despite Hardy’s aversion to applied mathematics, he had a profound impact on biology. Mathematicians tend not to realize his contribution, which was downplayed by Hardy himself. At the same time, biologists tend not to appreciate his mathematical brilliance. This note is intended to recognize G. H. Hardy’s “little” discovery as a contribution to genetics and to revisit a classic paper [2] that has shaped the field for the past century. Godfrey Harold Hardy, a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, began his mathematics career