[pas]

Basically the same :)

Usually, after a certain level math problems become very narrow, and a small subfield develops around them. They are "easy" to get into, to catch up, read the important papers, sketch out the proofs for yourself, get a feel for the concepts and for the conjectures that lurk among them.

And usually that's it. Usually a few folks of that very particular topic/field have some ideas that they are working on, usually for at least a year, they try to formalize them, conceptualize them, communicate them, and naturally to prove them.

And sometimes draft/working papers are all we get. Sometimes someone becomes a "household" name after many persistent years like Wiles.