Mathematician Andrew Wiles announced the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem in 1995, ending a centuries‑old challenge in number theory. The proof, which required seven years of work, was published in the Annals of Mathematics after an initial gap was corrected with the assistance of Richard Taylor.

Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, c can satisfy a^n + b^n = c^n for integer values of n greater than 2. The conjecture, first proposed by Pierre de Fermat in the early 17th century, remained unproven despite extensive efforts by many mathematicians.

Wiles began work on a related conjecture, the Taniyama‑Shimura conjecture, and used modular forms and elliptic curves to construct a proof. In 1993 a flaw in the argument was identified, prompting a year‑long collaboration to resolve the issue. The corrected proof was presented at a conference in 1994 and formally published in 1995.

The result has become a central example in modern mathematics and continues to influence research in algebraic geometry and number theory.