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 ...
So easy, a caveman could do it.
I’m just saying. He looks like the guys on the Gieco commercials.
“O” should hire him to find where the next bailouts are going to come from
I remember a qustion from a psych professor in a psych class in college.....
Who is smarter, the Harvard Ph. D or the chief of a pigmy tribe in the forest?
Of course, the answer was from me, “Unable to determine”.
All of the idiots in the class automatically said, “The Harvard Ph. D.”. :-)
He’s not only clever.. but wise.
ya can learn a lot from a cockroach.
OK, so long as you agree with me that:
IF a guy can't throw out a first pitch without lookin’ like a girlie-mon,
And IF he can't run a country anywhere but into the ground,
THEN he can still be a Commie Doofus.
OK?
Actually, I first studied this conjecture about forty years ago. I was surprised when I read this article that it had not been solved long ago. I agree with you - this seems rather obvious to me in a topological sense.
Finding a proof to a proposition in mathematics can be a very difficult task. Following a proof is one thing. Coming up with the proof in the first place is another thing. Just because you can follow a proof does not imply the ability to come up with it. These are two different skills.
I go to conventions for a specialized earth-science group with lots of brainiac types. One of the wives once claimed “It’s odd going to a convention where everyone looks like the Unabomber”.
Well, that then means any three-dimensional space with a hole in it is equivalent to a stretched donut.
...and I'll durn sure take the million!
They didn’t offer you any homegrown veggies did they?
ditto....I got out the protractor, slide rule, and logarythm equipment and asked loudly.............
.. what ?
That is John Grise, also Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite ...
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