Maths genius turns down $1m

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Grigory Perelman, a reclusive mathematician, solved the long-standing Poincaré conjecture.

This beautiful New Yorker article gives a layman's perspective on it all as well as a fascinating insight into the psychology and politics at the highest echelons of mathematics.

Anyway, it is so famous and difficult that the problem was one of the seven selected for a $1m Millenium prize.

However, Professor Perelman has, according to this article, turned down the prize money, despite living unemployed in a cockroach infested 1 bedroom flat, saying "I have all I want."

Thanks for the links. He also turned down the Fields Medal a couple of years ago when he first submitted the proof of Poincare's conjecture. I think it's great that he didn't do it for the fame or the money (although if you do want to be famous, there are probably easier ways!) although, I think he should've either donated the money to worthy causes or found another mathematical problem so that someone else could claim the prize. I wonder what "they're" going to do with the money.

I guess it just shows the benefits, from an a evolutionary psychology perspective, of things like autism, in that had he been 'normal', non-socially marginal, he would be unlikely to have done this work.

Some genius. having $1,000,000 >>>>> living in a cock-roach infested apartment.

He's not that good at maths though to turn down the money

RiverOfSleep - don't get me started on the difference between numeracy and maths

More info in the Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/7530771/Russian-maths-genius-may-turn-down-1m-prize .html

Some of it is quite sad. The fact that he has had to deal with awful anti-Semitism, and that the Russian university tried to force him to publish mediocre stuff.

However, I thought this was

Neighbours say his trousers are always too short for his legs, that the balcony to his flat has been left to rot and he fills his time playing table tennis against the wall. Every day they see him walk to a grocery shop at 1.30pm where he buys the same things: eggs, cheese, spaghetti, sour cream, bread and a kilo of oranges.