SafekipediaIn science and mathematics, an open problem or an open question is a known problem that can be clearly stated and for which researchers believe there is a correct and checkable answer, but no one has found the solution yet.
Throughout the history of science, some problems thought to be open were shown to be unclear or not well-defined. In mathematics, many open problems focus on whether certain ideas make sense together without contradictions.
Two famous examples in mathematics that were solved in the late twentieth century are Fermat's Last Theorem and the four-color theorem. Another major open mathematics problem solved in the early 21st century is the Poincaré conjecture.
Open problems exist in every scientific field. For instance, a key open problem in biochemistry is the protein structure prediction problem, which asks how to figure out a protein's shape just from its building blocks. In 2024, David Baker and Demis Hassabis received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their important work on this problem.
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