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In 1939, a graduate student named George Dantzig arrived late to his statistics class at UC Berkeley. Two problems were already written on the blackboard when he walked in. Assuming they were the night’s homework, he copied them down and went home to work through them. It took him several days longer than usual, and he apologized to his professor for the delay. His professor, Jerzy Neyman — one of the most respected statisticians of his time — didn’t scold him. He was stunned into silence. The two problems Dantzig had casually solved as homework were actually famous unsolved theorems in statistics, ones that had stumped professional mathematicians for years. One of Dantzig’s solutions was prepared for publication almost immediately. He later admitted that if he’d known those problems were supposed to be impossible, he probably never would have attempted them at all. Sometimes the only thing standing between a person and the impossible is simply not being told it can’t be done. - Everyday Magic