Grigory Perelman

John Derbyshire:

Several readers have asked me to comment on Grigory Perelman's turning down the Fields Medal (i.e. mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize). Well, he's an odd bird. Forty years old, lives with his Mum in St. Petersburg, doesn't answer the phone. Apparently he has given up math, though whether for philosophical reasons (which might be interesting) or personal ones (which probably wouldn't be), I don't know.

The current New Yorker has a story on Perelman & his proof of the Poincare Conjecture, which now looks pretty solid. I shall read it when I get through catching up after a week's vacation... which is to say, around Christmas.

For the Poincare Conjecture, see p.283 of Unknown Quantity. For a living mathematician even more eccentric than Perelman, see sections 15.6 to 15.8 of same book.

I have Unknown Quantity on my shelf, and I shall read it when I get time... which is to say, around Christmas.