Maths Genius Turns Down Prestigious Prize
Posted on 13 April 2010 by LynThomas in Society
Reclusive Russian genius, of Jewish descent, Dr Grigori Perelman, has refused to accept the prestigious $1 million “Millennium” mathematics prize awarded by the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, MA.
Perelman had solved the one-hundred-year-old Poincaré conjecture, one of the most complicated mathematical problems in the world. The problem is so complex, that after Perelman posted his proofs in 2002, it took several years for other experts to confirm he was correct.
This is the second prestigious prize that Perelman has refused to accept. His refusal has led some to examine his unorthodox life and dub him as a ‘Mathsputin’. Others speculate that Perelman may be suffering from asperger syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, though this is very difficult to prove.
The 44-year-old Perelman currently lives with his mother and sister in his hometown of St. Petersburg, in extremely humble conditions. One neighbor told a Moscow newspaper “He always wears the same tatty coat and trousers. He never cuts his nails or beard.”
When pressed to accept the Fields Medal in 2006 Perelman replied, “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.”
He had previously turned down the prestigious prize from the European Mathematical Society, because he felt the prize committee was unqualified to assess his work, even positively.
Perelman gave up mathematics, saying he was dismayed at the intellectual and moral failings of his peers in the field of mathematics. He says “It is not people who break ethical standards who are regarded as aliens. It is people like me who are isolated.”
According to reports, he prefers to play table tennis against a wall in his apartment. Perelman is also a gifted violinist.
A number of appeals have been made to Perelman to accept the prize and give the money to charity. “Each suffering child and each mother entangled in circumstances of her life could receive help,” wrote the chairwoman of one of Russia’s children charities.
Perelman is not the first person to refuse a prestigious prize. Jean-Paul Sartre refused to accept the Nobel Prize Award in Literature in 1964. In 1973 Le Duc Tho refused to accept the Nobel Prize for Peace.
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