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Russian maths genius may turn down $1m prize [solved the Poincaré conjecture]
The Telegraph ^ | 3/27/2010 | Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Olga Krepysheva in St. Petersburg

Posted on 03/28/2010 1:40:12 AM PDT by bruinbirdman

Inside the world of Grigory Perelman: the man who solved the world's toughest maths problem proves to be a puzzle himself.

He has been called "the cleverest man in the world" and shook academia to its foundations when he announced he had solved a fiendish mathematical problem that had baffled the planet's best brains for a century.

Yet Grigory Perelman, a 43-year-old Russian mathematician, has consciously spurned plaudits and wealth to subsist like a hermit. He lives in a 2-bedroom flat with his elderly mother in a dilapidated Soviet-era tower block in St. Petersburg, while neighbours complain that his own studio flat, which he seldom uses, has become a breeding ground for cockroaches.

Now he has proved again, and in spectacular fashion, that he despises society's conventional norms. Picking up the telephone last week, the bearded genius, who is jobless, found himself being offered an academic prize worth $1 million.

He politely but tersely told the prestigious American institute offering him the prize that he would have to consider whether he wanted to accept the money or not.

"He said he would let me know at some point," Jim Carlson, President of the Clay Mathematics Institute, told The Sunday Telegraph.

"He did not give a sense of timing but I do not expect it will be tomorrow. He is more than extremely brief. He does not say too much," he added, explaining that Mr Perelman had not said why he would need to think about such a windfall.

"It is not every day that a person even entertains turning down a million dollars."

The Russian has turned down high honours before. In 2006, he was offered and declined the Fields Medal, the mathematical world's equivalent of a Nobel Prize. He said at the time he was

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Russia
KEYWORDS: genius; math; stringtheory
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" It took four years for teams of academics around the world to check Mr Perelman's solution, but eventually they confirmed that he had cracked a conundrum that many had thought unsolvable. "
1 posted on 03/28/2010 1:40:12 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman

Does this guy end every conversation with, “I don’t always drink beer. But when I do, I prefer Dos Equis. Stay thirsty my friend?”


2 posted on 03/28/2010 1:44:31 AM PDT by MAD-AS-HELL (Hope and Change. Rhetoric embraced by the Insane - Obama, The Chump in Charge)
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To: bruinbirdman

BTW, he should take the money and use it to get a make over.


3 posted on 03/28/2010 1:45:12 AM PDT by MAD-AS-HELL (Hope and Change. Rhetoric embraced by the Insane - Obama, The Chump in Charge)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: bruinbirdman

He turned down the Fields Medal? Wow.


6 posted on 03/28/2010 1:57:39 AM PDT by BuckeyeTexan (Integrity, Honesty, Character, & Loyalty still matter)
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anyone ever wondered why theres so many smart Jews


7 posted on 03/28/2010 2:02:55 AM PDT by 4rcane
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To: bruinbirdman

This man is completely amazing, but 10 bucks says he’s never been laid. Any takers?


8 posted on 03/28/2010 2:02:55 AM PDT by lmr (God punishes Conservatives by making them argue with fools.)
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To: BuckeyeTexan

Wonderful story. Perhaps there is autism involved; people with this condition can be frighteningly intelligent. But it’s not for me to make a diagnosis from afar, of course.

He’s a real individual, an authentic person, who values personal choices more than conventional societal routines.


9 posted on 03/28/2010 2:03:26 AM PDT by Ayn And Milton
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To: MAD-AS-HELL

SNORT!!!!

Excellent!


10 posted on 03/28/2010 2:19:22 AM PDT by octex
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To: lmr

Neither was Newton.


11 posted on 03/28/2010 2:28:09 AM PDT by FredZarguna ("I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.")
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To: Ayn And Milton

He seems to be functional enough — and antisocial enough — that he might have Asperger’s Syndrome and not full-blown autism.


12 posted on 03/28/2010 2:30:52 AM PDT by FredZarguna ("I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.")
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To: 4rcane
anyone ever wondered why theres so many smart Jews

They work at it. It's a culture that values education and learning. You can see the same thing in many of the Asians and Indians that come to the US. It's a trait to be emulated.
13 posted on 03/28/2010 2:31:45 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: bruinbirdman

Interesting guy. Brilliant.


14 posted on 03/28/2010 2:36:25 AM PDT by Cyropaedia ("Virtue cannot separate itself from reality without becoming a principal of evil...".)
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To: FredZarguna

Yes, you’re completely right. I was thinking of Asperger’s too. Full autism would possibly have hampered him in publishing his work and presenting it to the outside world.


15 posted on 03/28/2010 2:36:31 AM PDT by Ayn And Milton
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To: MAD-AS-HELL

lol


16 posted on 03/28/2010 2:40:20 AM PDT by BRL
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To: Ayn And Milton

Amazing fellow. Take the contrast between Zer0 and the genius. Both are celebs of a sort.
One is real one is false.


17 posted on 03/28/2010 2:40:46 AM PDT by ChiMark
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To: Ayn And Milton

Wisdom and character with virtue.


18 posted on 03/28/2010 2:40:48 AM PDT by Cvengr (Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
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To: MAD-AS-HELL
I know he's not going to listen to me but I really think he needs to go out and get a job at MacDonald's. He'll get to socialize, get to eat Big Macs and they supply hair nets.

A month and he'll be begging for the million and the medal.

19 posted on 03/28/2010 2:42:22 AM PDT by Recon Dad ( USMC SSgt Patrick O - 3rd Afghanistan Deployment - Day 159)
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To: MAD-AS-HELL; mlocher
"Grigory did not want to waste his time on this and colleagues voted him out. They voted out the most brilliant mathematician in the world."

Somehow I am not surprised at this. I am sure somewhere there is a top rate scientist that doubts globull warming that has been voted out too.

20 posted on 03/28/2010 2:46:46 AM PDT by BRL
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