University of Missouri-Columbia mathematics professor Steve Hofmann is receiving significant recognition for completing a 40-year math problem.

"It was one of the biggest open problems in my field and everybody thought it was too hard and wouldn't be solved. I had toyed with it for years and then put in three years of very serious work before hitting the key breakthrough."

The problem known as the "Kato Conjecture" goes back to two papers written by Tosio Kato, in 1953 and 1961.

According to Hofmann the solution allows mathematicians to better describe the behavior of waves traveling through a medium which itself changes over time.

"To work on a problem for three years and finally crack it open feels fantastic... It's the reason mathematicians work on problems - for moments like that."

Hofmann's work is funded by the National Science Foundation.