A few days ago a young Russian man, Grigori Perelman, was awarded a prize for solving one of mathematics’s most difficult problems.
A few days ago a young Russian man, Grigori Perelman, was awarded a prize for solving one of mathematics’s most difficult problems. It was an extraordinary achievement. The Poincaré conjecture (a topological conundrum) had baffled the best minds on the planet for over 100 years and the solution could help us understand the shape of the universe.
Yet Perelman avoided any fanfare and, to the great surprise of the maths community, simply posted his solution online. Almost more extraordinary (for non-mathematicians) than Perelman’s proof was the fact that on Monday he turned down the prize money of a million dollars. He had all he wanted already, he said. Four years earlier, he also refused the Fields medal — the maths equivalent of a Nobel prize — on the grounds that he wasn’t a hero and preferred to be left in peace.
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