...and refuses the 1 million dollar prize! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! "An impoverished Russian who has been called the world's cleverest man today said he does not need a $1million prize awarded by a prestigious American institute for solving one of the most intractable problems in mathematics. Dr Grigory Perelman prefers to live as a recluse in his grim cockroach-infested flat in St Petersburg. Told about the financial prize for solving the Poincare Conjecture which had confounded mathematicians for a century, he said through his closed front door: 'I don't need anything. I have all I want.' The bearded genius, aged 44, was named last week as winner of the $1 million prize by the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Four years ago, after posting his solution on the web, he failed to turn up to receive his prestigious Fields Medal from the International Mathematical Union in Madrid. At the time he stated: 'I'm not interested in money or fame. I don't want to be on display like an animal in a zoo. 'I'm not a hero of mathematics. I'm not even that successful, that is why I don't want to have everybody looking at me.' Neighbour Vera Petrovna said: 'I was once in his flat and I was astounded. He only has a table, a stool and a bed with a dirty mattress which was left by previous owners - alcoholics who sold the flat to him. 'We are trying to get rid of cockroaches in our block, but they hide in his flat.' It was in 2003 that Perelman, then a researcher at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in St. Petersburg, began posting papers online suggesting he had solved the Poincare Conjecture, one of seven major mathematical puzzles for which the Clay Institute is offering $1 million each. Rigorous tests proved he was correct. The topological conundrum essentially states that any three-dimensional space without holes in it is equivalent to a stretched sphere. The puzzle was more than 100 years old when Perelman solved it - and can help determine the shape of the universe. After 2003 Perelman gave up his job at the Steklov Institute. Friends have been reported as saying he has resigned from mathematics altogether - finding the subject too painful to discuss." This is him: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I thinks this is fantastic but the dude should accept the money. Then he can buy some shaving cream and a new coat.
"He had previously turned down a prestigious prize from the European Mathematical Society, allegedly saying that he felt the prize committee was unqualified to assess his work, even positively."
I think it would have been more of a statement if he accepted the million and just gave it away to people that really needed it.
Well with a million dollars he would have A LOT left over to give away after he purchased the shaving cream and new coat but I believe he is probably too aspergers or something to think of others in that way. Its not a knock on him, I just think he lives in his own world and even the thought of having to deal with so much money, the responsibility, would be too much for him.
Dear Syzygys: Nice thread. Luckily for us, The Clay Mathematical Institute still has 6 other problems awaiting solution with an attached $1 million prize for each. Please review them, choose one, solve, and collect. > Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture > Hodge Conjecture > Navier-Stokes Equations > P vs NP > Poincare Conjecture (solved) > Riemann Hypothesis > Yang-Mills Theory LC, Ph.D., Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos, New Mexico
Which one is the most important or useful? I would like to start with that one. Not for the money, but for all human kind...
Well, I'd like to know about Yang-Mills existence, mass gap, etc, do that one Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!. Although the Navier-Stokes one could lead to some pretty sweet advances in aircraft technology.
