Who was the mathematician who thought "god" was out to get him? Wasn't there a mathematician who was convinced that "god" was out to get him? When he was travelling by sea he would write a friend a letter claiming that he had finally proved a difficult theorem (even though he hadn't). His reasoning was that he would always reach his destination safely since god couldn't stand to let him die on the dangerous voyage while leaving the rest of the world thinking that he had actually come up with the proof... There was also some story about rainy days and sports games, but I can't remember.
Who was this? I tried searching with Google, but couldn't find anything and didn't know exactly what to search for...
 A: You look for G.H. Hardy.

Hardy was known for his eccentricities. He could not endure having his photograph taken and only five snapshots are known to exist. He also hated mirrors and his first action on entering any hotel room was to cover any mirror with a towel. He always played an amusing game of trying to fool God (which is also rather strange since he claimed all his life not be believe in God). For example, during a trip to Denmark he sent back a postcard claiming that he had proved the Riemann hypothesis. He reasoned that God would not allow the boat to sink on the return journey and give him the same fame that Fermat had achieved with his "last theorem".
Another example of his trying to fool God was when he went to cricket matches he would take what he called his "anti-God battery". This consisted of thick sweaters, an umbrella, mathematical papers to referee, student examination scripts etc. His theory was that God would think that he expected rain to come so that he could then get on with his work. Since Hardy thought that God would then have the sun shine all day to spite him, he would be able to enjoy the cricket in perfect sunshine.

(from http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hardy.html )
