Eternity page
A solution to this puzzle was found on 15th May 2000 by Alex Selby and
Oliver Riordan. Another solution was found independently by
Günter Stertenbrink on 1st July 2000. No other people are known to
have solved it.
Links to external Eternity sites
Brendan Owen's Eternity page
This contains a good description of the puzzle plus other links.
Ed Pegg's page
Mailing list
Lively discussion group. Here are three excerpts I found interesting:
- Jan 2000 Patrick Hamlyn explains
what kind of breadth first search he is using (also mentioned by James Kittock and Grant Peacock) (see "notes from a talk" below)
- Aug 2000 Andrew Cook describes a self-adjusting exhaustive search algorithm
- Sep 2000 Günter Stertenbrink posts a clever authentication method (see "notes from a talk" below)
Official Ertl site
Included for completeness
Some explanatory pages
Our solution
Our method (the talk below is more recent and probably a better explanation)
Notes from a talk on solving Eternity
Less technical description
Some partly accurate news stories
Telegraph story about the puzzle's launch (3/6/1999)
[local copy - original cannot be found]
Telegraph feature about
inventor's house (November 1999?).
Eternity puzzle
is a best seller, "but it is impossible".
Fortunately I didn't read this story until after we solved it. (14/12/1999)
The puzzle inventor is sanguine in "This is North Scotland" (28/1/2000)
[local copy - original cannot be found]
The inventor fears the worst (15/3/2000)
BBC
news story during the period the solutions were being verified
(2/10/2000)
The Times adds to the tension. Are we
one of the "three winners"? (17/10/2000)
[The Times is now a subscription service. To find this article from the Times archives, try
searching for the keywords: 621 digits monckton unfathomable]
The Indy
"An announcement from the scrutineers is expected shortly."
But not that shortly as it turned out.
(17/10/2000)
The local paper joins in (17/10/2000)
[local copy - original cannot be found]
Yahoo press release - looks like
we did win after all. Send it! (26/10/2000)
[local copy - original cannot be found]
BBC news agrees (26/10/2000)
So does the Indy (27/10/2000)
and The Times (27/10/2000)
[The Times is now a subscription service. To find this article from the Times archives, try
searching for the keywords: monckton aberdeenshire cardboard 48 209]
and here
are some pictures to prove it. If he can wear that tie, I can wear
that jumper. (He's the marketing director of the toy company ERTL/Racing Champions, by the way.)
And Larger
picture of us with loadsafakemoney. (Oh dear I can't seem to find
the silly champagne picture.) (27/10/2000)
Slightly more in-depth article from the Guardian.
Apparently I don't know much about banging hardcore trance. (30/10/2000)
Article
about me at Mind Sports Olympiad website (2/11/2000)
Inventor tries to sell house online (9/11/2000)
[local copy - original cannot be found]
Inventor tells some more of the story of Eternity
(12/11/2000)
[The Times is now a subscription service. To find this article from the Times archives, try
searching for the keywords: monckton derbyshire ertl sportsman million]
The inventor parts with his house
(22/6/2001)
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