SafekipediaAn open problem or an open question is a problem that scientists or mathematicians know about and think they can solve, but no one has found the answer yet.
Open problems can be found in every area of science and mathematics. Some problems once thought to be open were later found to be unclear or not well-defined.
Two famous examples from mathematics are Fermat's Last Theorem and the four-color theorem. Another major open mathematics problem solved more recently is the Poincaré conjecture.
One important open problem in biochemistry is the protein structure prediction problem. This asks how to determine a protein’s shape just from its building blocks. In 2024, David Baker and Demis Hassabis were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on this challenge.
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