Posted on 08/22/2006 11:26:11 PM PDT by Atlantic Bridge
The world of mathematics is in uproar over rumours that its most prestigious prize will be turned down next week by one of its brightest stars.
The Fields Medal, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in mathematics, is awarded every four years to young mathematicians who have made the biggest impact in their fields. It is due to be presented by the King of Spain in a ceremony in Madrid on Tuesday 22 August.
But Gregori Perelman, who has been widely tipped to receive it, has resigned his post at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in St Petersburg, Russia, and gone to ground. “Nobody knows where he is,” says Marcus du Sautoy, a mathematician at Oxford University in the UK. Perelman is thought to have become disillusioned with mathematics and disassociated himself from the field....
....Perelman achieved fame in the mathematics world for his work on the Poincaré Conjecture.....
.....The Poincaré Conjecture is also famous as one of the Millennium Prize problems established by the Clay Mathematics Institute in Boston in 2000. The Institute is offering a prize of $1 million to the first correct proof....
.....“Perelman doesn't seem to be interested in medals or money”.....
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Cool eastern Europeans Ping!
No wonder the dude doesn't want to be seen in public
BTW, he's not only Russian, he's also Jewish.
Yep! And he is the clear counterevidence to the notorius prejudice that Jews are only interested in money.
Quod erat demonstrandum!
TWEEZERS!!!! Can someone get me some tweezers please??
My head hurts after reading the article - He sure fits the stereotypical "look" of a genius though.
Funny translation - I would think "in the ground" means dead...
Your comment reminds me of a Jewish woman I know who emigrated with her immediate family from Russia.
She never vowed to any faith except for communism.
As a lawyer she had to embrace the communist party and hid her
Jewish ancestry. This was during Gorbachov's reign!
I hope that Mr. Perelman can enjoy the fruits of his labor without persecution.
Gosh, all he had to do was ask me, I could have told him that!
What else is new for many geniuses?
An interesting statement in the article about another math mathematician. How can one become disillusioned with math?
When I was a teenager, I got a job in a doughnut shop. After mastering every doughnut, I became disillusioned with them. I didn't even want to look at a doughnut for years after that. I can understand how the great doughnut equation would leave anyone disillusioned.
I beleive that he gets his fullfilment by having his theory proved....
How can one become disillusioned with math?
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Abstract math can really twist your brain in a pretzel. If you do it long enough, your mind gets so messed up that you have trouble connecting with reality.
Wow - those are some serious eye brows!
Why do all those guys look like that?
I majored in math myself, and it occurs to me that your problem arose from the failure to recognize that jelly-filled doughnuts are topologically equivalent to spheres! If you had stuck to doughnut-shaped doughnuts, you would have been fine.
You may know it through common sense, but can you prove it mathematically?
BuHuHaHa! Good point!
Well, I keep trying to prove it practically - but the donuts keep disappearing! :(
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