"Thanks to their conjecture, Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer are two names that (to mathematicians) are as inextricably linked as the names of Laurel and Hardy, although many have been tricked into believing that there are in fact three mathematicians behind the conjecture - Birch, Swinnerton and Dyer. Birch, with his rather bumbling manner, plays Stan Laurel to Swinnerton-Dyer's rather dour Oliver Hardy."