Plenty of counterexamples to the claim

https://mathoverflow.net/questions/25630/major-mathematical-...

More counterexamples here too: https://old.reddit.com/r/math/comments/xw8i9w/oldest_person_....

Just curious how many examples that show FIRST major discovery after say 40? I think I spotted a few.

This was an interesting one - a proof by a 67 year old retiree that nobody in the field knew about for 2-3 years after because they didn't read their email.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/20170328-statistician-proves-...

Marjorie Rice. Housewife.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/marjorie-rices-secret-pentago...

Her discoveries first mentioned in a 1988 magazine when she was 65.

The discovery of these pentomino tilings is an interesting achievement and evidence of an exceptional mind, but it's very far from a major advance in mathematics.

"I think Zhang's previous result was good enough to rebuff Hardy's claims."

I agree.

age is just a number, some people may have a prejudice against larger numbers, and that to me, seems irrational

Might come off as political, but Americans need need to throw off the yoke of British intellectual affectations, especially pre WWI ones.

Huh? Could you expand on this?

Disclosure: a Brit who does not see Americans oppressed by compatriot affectations.

The structure of the modern education system is what Brittain designed to run an effective empire before any communication system existed. Every student made to operate independently as an arm of the British empire with standardized knowledge and skills, like cogs in an enormous beautiful machine.

I think you're conflating Hardy's thoughts as a mathematician, with the politics of his country of origin. The two, as far as I know, weren't really connected