Erdös, the mathematician  

Although somewhat over the top, the following quote from Paul Hoffman in “The man who loved only numbers”, shows the high regard in which Erdös was held by fellow mathematicians:

“Never, mathematicians say, has there been an individual like Paul Erdös. He was one of the century’s greatest mathematicians, who posed and solved thorny problems in number theory and other areas and founded the field of discrete mathematics, which is the foundation of computer science. He also was one of the most prolific mathematicians in history, with more than 1500 papers to his name. And, his friends say, he was also one of the most unusual.”