[BITList] Russian mathematician rejects $1 million prize as he considers it unfair

[John Feltham]

Russian mathematician rejects $1 million prize as he considers it unfair

ANI Friday, July 2, 2010 20:48 IST
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_russian-mathematician-rejects-1-million-prize-as-he-considers-it-unfair_1404438

London: A Russian mathematician has rejected a $1 million prize for 
solving one of the most challenging problems in mathematics because he 
considers it unfair.

According to Interfax news agency, the reclusive Grigory Perelman told 
the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that he was 
turning down the prize, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Perelman, 43, said he believes his contribution in proving the Poincare 
Conjecture was no greater than that of American mathematician Richard 
Hamilton, who first suggested a programme for the solution.

The Clay Mathematics Institute confirmed in a statement on its website 
that Perelman had informed it of his refusal to accept the prize.

The Russian genius did not appear in Paris on June 22 to collect his 
prize for solving a problem that has puzzled scientists for more than a 
century.

The Poincare Conjecture, one of seven problems on the institute's 
Millennium Prize list, deals with shapes that exist in four or more 
dimensions.

Perelman, who lives in a small apartment in St Petersburg, Russia, with 
his aged mother, is unemployed. Neighbours say he lives in poverty.

Perelman has also rejected job offers from several top American 
universities.

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