This man was dedicated and knew only how to function when he was doing maths. He was kind and caring but had trouble communicating with people on levels other than maths, yet has influenced and touched more modern mathematicians than perhaps any other.

He was publishing actively until he died 10 years ago aged 83 when he was still working 19 hour days on theories and papers. He would encourage other mathematicians and pose puzzles and was never greedy with fame or recognition.

Published mathematicians now have an ERDOS (pronounced air-dish) number which is the degree of separation between their article and the great man himself – a joint paper with Erdos has an Erdos number of 1, a paper with someone who has an Erdos number of 1 but if you haven’t published with Erdos gives you an Erdos number of 2, etc.

He’s that important.
And interesting.

Very highly recommended reading.