Talk:Yutaka Taniyama

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I have not been able to verify that Yutaka Taniyama committed suicide by "leaping out of a window." Can anyone help me corroborate this statement?

I deleted the above phrase from the article, after finding the following sentence on page 186 of Fermat's Enigma, by Simon Singh, referring to Taniyama's death: "On the morning of Monday, November 17, 1958, the superintendent of his apartment found him dead in his room with a note left on his desk."

John M. Singleton

[edit] Cause of suicide...unknown?

Curious that you brought this up...I could not find anything relating to Taniyama's suicide, or even an autopsy report. Is it possible that committing suicide without a cause is not considered to be honorable and therefore is "hushed" up? I've also heard rumors that it was a fatal gunshot, but like the window rumor it is unsubstantiated.

--vnvlain

His suicide note does mention tiredness and hints at a bit more. As for suicide for unknown reasons being "dishonorable", well I doubt that. In early post-war Japan suicide for vaguely inexplicable or almost "fashionable" reasons were not unheard of.(Although his was more inexplicable than most as he was engaged and successful. Unless it was a secret suicide pact with his fiance, in which case it could be "romantic", but I've never heard that even suggested) Suicide was what brilliant young angst-driven people did because they were brilliant, young, and angst-driven. I'm exaggerating a bit, but Japan would've almost been unusual if they didn't have a bit of that as many nations do. In the US from the 1920s to 1950s poet-suicides were seen as romantic after a fashion. So much so there were even poems trying to explain the phenomenon of poet-suicides.

Depression (Goro Shimura says, and he should know). Charles Matthews 11:59, 5 November 2005 (UTC)