Perelman and the Poincaré Conjecture

[E_R_Olovetto]

I actually didn’t read this particular article because I just found it doing some research for this post. The NYT article it references was the first I read.

The New York Times recently reported that reclusive Russian geometer Grigory Perelman has apparently proved the century-old Poincaré conjecture. The Times calls Poincaré “a landmark not just of mathematics, but of human thought.” But just why it’s so significant is left a bit hazy.

I was curious why it is so important so I guess I better read it, but feel free to discuss. I got a giggle out of the AOL.com article on what people want him to do with the $1 mill. prize:

A children’s charity in St. Petersburg, The Warm Home, wrote an open letter to Perelman, asking him to donate the money to Russian charities, ABC News reported.

“Unfortunately, unlike in the case of mathematical problems, no universal approach can be found toward solving human problems. Each suffering child and each mother entangled in circumstances of her life could receive help,” the chairwoman of the charity wrote, according to ABC.

And Communist activists in St. Petersburg proposed to use the prize money to build a research facility and support the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow.

“We are willing to explain to him that, if he does not take the money, it will be spent on American scientists working on nuclear weapons,” the leader of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region Communists told the Interfax news agency, ABC said.

[scineram]

Perelman is some free thinking socialist or what, declined the prize anyway. Why not charity?

[E_R_Olovetto]

Anyone read this?

Mathematicians are much happier when a mathematical subject turns out to be of the first, more structured, type. We are much sadder when a subject turns out to be a variegated mass of beetles. (But have a look at Fields Medalist Timothy Gowers’ beautiful essay “The Two Cultures of Mathematics” for a spirited defense of mathematical enterprises of the second sort.)

[Kakugo]

Perelman is a legend in academic circles. He may possibly be one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the last two centuries. But he’s also a very difficult character to work with. He quit his post at the legendary Steklov Institute just when the Russian government was finally ready to acknowledge his genius. Motivations are unclear though speculations abound. He was offered positions at the most prestigious European and US universities but declined them all.

It’s unbelievable how many vultures are swarming around him right now.