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The Man Who Refused the Fields Medal May Also Refuse a Million Dollars

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The Man Who Refused the Fields Medal May Also Refuse a Million Dollars NEWS The man who refused the Fields Medal may also refuse a million dollars The Fields Medal is awarded by the years old. Perelman is also said to be a essence, whether all three-dimensional International Mathematical Union to rec- talented violinist. Currently Perelman is blobs that are not twisted and have no ognize outstanding mathematical achi- unemployed and leads an isolated life in- holes in them are homeomorphic to a evements for existing work and for the teracting only with his mother whom he three-dimensional sphere. It took more promise of future achievements. It is lives with. than a hundred years to prove that yes, often referred to as the Nobel Prize of After completing his doctoral educa- they are.’ A seven million dollar prize mathematics and carries a monetary tion in the Soviet Union, Perelman spent fund was set up by the Clay Institute to award of US$ 15,000. Only mathemati- a few years in the United States of Amer- reward those who solve the problems cians below the age of 40 are eligible for ica. Sylvia Nasar and David Gruber in- with a million dollars allocated for each this award and it is awarded every four terviewed Perelman and in their article, of the problems. Incidentally, the conjec- years on the occasion of the International published in the New Yorker in 2006, ture was proven for dimensions greater Congress of Mathematicians (ICM). At a they report that Perelman’s colleagues than three (Generalized Poincaré Conjec- time, the medal is awarded to between and friends have attested to his living ture) earlier on in the 20th century. For two and four mathematicians. Awarded very simply during his time in the United proving the conjecture in dimensions first in the year 1936, it has been States. Apparently, his apartment was greater than four, the mathematician awarded periodically since 1950. Forty very sparsely furnished and he lived on a Stephen Smale was awarded the Fields eight mathematicians have received this diet of Russian bread, cheese and milk. Medal in 1961. In 1986 Michael Freed- very prestigious medal so far. One peculiarity often commented on man received the same honour for prov- For the first time in the history of the were his long fingernails which he did ing the conjecture in four dimensions. medal, at the 2006 ICM at Madrid, the not see the need to cut. In 1995, he Grigori Perelman’s proof of the con- medal was turned down by one of the turned down job offers from several very jecture was ready in 2002 and he went awardees. Russian mathematician Grig- prestigious American schools and re- about the job of letting his results be ori Perelman, one of the four awardees of turned to live and work in Russia at the known in a most unusual manner. Most 2006, declined to accept the Fields Steklov Institute. Masha Gessen alleges researchers with new and exciting results Medal. Why he did so is largely a mys- that Perelman was unhappy that none of would rush to have them published in tery. He is reputed to have said at the the job offers in the United States were well-known peer-reviewed journals time, ‘It was completely irrelevant for tenured positions – they were merely ten- thereby ensuring due credit to them- me. Everybody understood that if the ure-track. At the Steklov Institute he selves. However Perelman, obviously proof is correct, then no other recogni- could work without teaching responsi- very confident of himself and the quality tion is needed’. (Perelman was referring bilities or publishing requirements. of his work – never did publish his re- to the proof of the Poincaré Conjecture Gessen reports that ‘he showed up infre- sults. All he did was to submit his proof which he worked on). Always a reclusive quently and generally kept to himself for to the open arXiv preprint server and person, being offered the Fields Medal almost seven years’. e-mail the abstract of his paper to several seems to have motivated Perelman to Perelman’s most famous achievement other mathematicians working in the further withdraw from the world of in the world of mathematics has been same field. He followed this up by lec- mathematics. solving of one of the most complex prob- turing on his proof at the most presti- Perelman was born to Jewish Russian lems of the century – the Poincaré Con- gious universities in the United States in parents on 13 June 1966 in St Petersburg, jecture. First posed in 1904 by Henri 2003 but since then has communicated Russia. His father was an electrical engi- Poincaré, the conjecture had been the less and less with the outside world. neer and his mother taught mathematics preoccupation of many brilliant mathe- Three different groups of experts at a technical institute. His unauthorized maticians over the last century. The working independently studied Perel- biographer Masha Gessen reports that it problem was one of the seven complex man’s results for more than two years was apparent very early that Perelman mathematical problems identified by the and declared them to be accurate in was a prodigy. As a high school student privately funded Clay Mathematics Insti- 2006. In December 2006, the journal Sci- at the age of 16, he won first place at the tute as the Millennium Prize Problems in ence hailed his results as the ‘Break- International Mathematical Olympiad in 2000. through of the year’. By not publishing Budapest in 1982 with a perfect score. Gessen explains the century old prob- his results in a peer-reviewed journal, His extraordinary capabilities were rec- lem thus in an interview: ‘Much of topo- Perelman originally did not qualify for ognized and nurtured well within the So- logy is concerned with things that are the Clay Prize. However, on 18 March viet system. Even as a school student essentially the same as other things, even this year, the Clay Institute took the de- Grigori was a loner and although not un- if at particular moments in time they cision to award him the prize as his proof friendly, always preferred his work over happen to look different. For example, if has successfully undergone review by his human company. His other passion is you have a blob that can be reshaped into fellow mathematicians. The press release that of opera. Love of opera was incul- a sphere, then the sphere and the blob are issued by the Clay Institute concludes cated in him by his mother who first took essentially similar, or homeomorphic, as with these words: ‘Perelman’s proof of him to a performance when he was six topologists say. Poincaré asked, in the Poincaré and geometrization conjec- CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 98, NO. 10, 25 MAY 2010 1279 NEWS tures is a major mathematical advance. sar and David Gruber mentioned above. person, I cannot stay a pet and say noth- His ideas and methods have already He told them repeatedly that he had ing. That is why I had to quit’. found new applications in analysis and given up mathematics and expressed dis- geometry; surely the future will bring illusionment with the field of mathemat- 1. Manifold Destiny, Interview by Sylvia many more’. (http://www.guardian.co. ics and mathematicians, ‘It is not people Nasar and David Gruber published in New uk/world/2010/mar/23/grigory-perelman- who break ethical standards who are re- Yorker, August 2006. rejects-1m-dollars) garded as aliens. It is people like me who 2. Excerpts from Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Perelman does not answer his phone or are isolated’. He also appears to have felt Century, Masha Gessen. responds to e-mail. He has been infor- that by accepting the Fields Medal he 3. Interview with Masha Gessen; www. med of the Clay Prize but has indicated would be conforming to standards he failuremag.com no interest in collecting the prize so far disapproved of. ‘As long as I was not and has refused all requests for inter- conspicuous, I had a choice’, Perelman views. Apparently he told the one repor- explained. ‘Either to make some ugly Rosalind Ezhil K. (S. Ramaseshan Fel- ter who managed to reach him on his thing’ (a fuss about the math commu- low), 122, 3rd Main, Dollars Colony, mobile phone ‘You are disturbing me. I nity’s lack of integrity) ‘or, if I didn’t do RMV 2nd Stage, 1st Block, Bangalore am picking mushrooms’. His one and this kind of thing, to be treated as a pet. 560 094, India. only interview was the one to Sylvia Na- Now, when I become a very conspicuous e-mail: [email protected] MEETING REPORT Barter system, biodiversity and livelihoods of tribal communities: cultural diversity and conservation in eastern Himalaya, Arunachal Pradesh* Arunachal Pradesh, being the largest to 2007 three workshops were conducted rural appraisal (PRA) tool – called focus state in eastern Himalayan region, has at Lumla (near Bhutan border) and other group discussion (FGD) to learn the ways unique biodiversity and diverse cultural nearby villages of Tawang. From 2004 to and means by which they collect, grade, resources. The state is the homeland of 2008, four workshops were organized process and assign the values to the bio- five ecosystems and 26 major tribes. The among Galo tribe dominating villages of resources used during barter system. livelihood security of tribal communities Koyu. From 2004 to 2009, nine village It was concluded that barter system is is determined by terrestrial and aquatic workshops were held in Adi dominating practised by a large number of tribal indigenous bioresources.
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