Posted on 03/23/2010 12:35:33 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
A Russian awarded $1million (£666,000) for solving one of the most intractable problems in mathematics said yesterday that he does not want the money.
Said to be the world's cleverest man, Dr Grigory Perelman, 44, lives as a recluse in a bare cockroach-infested flat in St Petersburg. He said through the closed door: 'I have all I want.'
The prize was given by the U.S. Clay Mathematics Institute for solving the Poincare Conjecture, which baffled mathematicians for a century. Dr Perelman posted his solution on the internet.
Four years ago, the maths genius failed to turn up to receive his prestigious Fields Medal from the International Mathematical Union for solving the problem.
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 2002 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
LOL. My first thought.
Unibomber look-a-like.
Good for him! If he has found happiness then I say, “COOL!”
That sounds obvious to me. Maybe I should have tackled this problem before Perelman got interested in it. ;)
I would.
Not sounding all that clever to me.
I knew that.
So could I.
But can you prove it?
When my son told me he was going to major in math in college, I told him ... great, but no beard. He grew dreadlocks instead. Oy.
Very smart man. Also knows the damage the money would do to his current life. New friends, new relatives surfacing, and every salesman coming for a handout. Harassment. He knows when he has it good.
Look at most people who win a lottery. They suffer the same problems...blow the cdough and return to their old life with no friends as they were dropped when the windfall came in.
Of course--but the trick is to prove it.
“The topological conundrum essentially states that any three-dimensional space without holes in it is equivalent to a stretched sphere.
I could told them that ...”
Yeah, no kidding. I was working on the Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness problem or I’d have clued them in long ago.
Any three-dimensional space without holes in it is equivalent to a stretched sphere?
Well, duh.
[Sounds like a line from Robert Heinlein] If true, and given that we're told Obama is the greatest genius in our country's political history . . . .
That's why my bro-in-law calls his son to change the TV channels with the remote.........A brilliant oncologist with a photographic memory but is helpless when it comes to manual stuff .............
You don’t need to solve state-space equations to realize the mess we’re in. Once you know negative numbers and addition, you’ll blanch.
“Any three-dimensional space without holes in it is equivalent to a stretched sphere?
Well, duh.”
I’d say more like a new pair of socks.
No holes there, ergo- a stretched sphere....
Always amazes me...He solved it...Hundreds checked it out and agree....which in reality means each was capable of the solution
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.