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The following question is a question that confuses my mind long since. I'm sorry if it looks nonsense.

If mathematicians who had made important discoveries in mathematics such as Bernhard Riemann, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Évariste Galois, Joseph Fourier, Leonhard Euler, Niels Henrik Abel and others had joined today's mathematics olympiads ( for example , IMO) would they all won the gold medal (perfect score) ?

Should the mathematician who did mathematical discoveries be an Olympiad winner in the past?

These questions can actually be dealt with in $1$ single question.

A person who has not joined IMO, can contribute to mathematics in the future?

Thank you and Best Regards.

Boris
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  • Of course! See this which might answer some of your queries. – user574848 Feb 02 '19 at 21:47
  • Yes. There are very successful mathematicians, including winners of the Fields medal, that had participated but did not win a gold medal. (Of course there are also many that did not participate at all.) – quid Feb 02 '19 at 21:50
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    Yes, what do Olympiad Gold medals have to do with making novel mathematical discoveries? – Gnumbertester Feb 02 '19 at 21:51
  • Read about Andrew Wiles for example. – rtybase Feb 02 '19 at 21:54
  • It turns out there's a very weak correlation between performance in math competitions and contributions to research. Certainly one in no way determines the other. Now, I'm not exactly a hugely accomplished mathematician, but I have definitely contributed, enough to get the PhD. However, I had abysmal performance in math competitions in high school. I did marginally well in college, and was on the winning team in a statewide competition in 2008. Not so well individually. But in research I excelled. I could've written my dissertation on the work I did as a junior in college. – Matt Samuel Feb 02 '19 at 21:57
  • @MattSamuel Thank you very much for comment.. – Boris Feb 02 '19 at 22:01
  • In my and my colleagues' experience, Olympiad performance is as predictive of becoming a quant as becoming a public sector research mathematician. And while there were IMO contestants who became one or the other, remember the IMO back then would have been extremely different. – J.G. Feb 02 '19 at 22:05
  • Success in research is also not purely dependent on raw ability. There are certainly people who are more capable than I am in many quantifiable ways, yet I've solved problems that they couldn't solve. Skill and knowledge only get you so far. You also have to be able to think of new things. – Matt Samuel Feb 02 '19 at 23:25

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