Grigori Perelman’s beautiful mind
DC
In 1904 the French mathematician Henri Poincar� made a conjecture
about three- dimensional space that may help to explain the shape of
the universe. Although it was crucial to the growth of the field of
topology, Poincar�s conjecture resisted proof for a century. When a
Boston philanthropist announced a million-dollar prize for its
solution in 2000 it was unclear whether he would ever have to pay.
Then, in 2002, a Russian mathematician named Grigori Perelman posted a
terse paper to an online archive. In the course of tackling a broader
problem, Perelman seemed to have miraculously swept away the remaining
obstacles to proving the Poincar� conjecture. Soon the mathematical
rumor mill was buzzing. The proof seemed genuine, but word was that
Perelman had no plans to publish it.
This was only the beginning of the weirdness. After a brief trip to
the United States with his mother in tow, Perelman retreated to St.
Petersburg and ceased communication with all but a few colleagues
vetting his work. He declined the Fields Medal, a gesture equivalent
to snubbing the Nobel committee. He then resigned from the Steklov
Institute in 2005 with a letter that read, �I have been disappointed
in mathematics and I want to try something else.�
Why did Perelman turn his back on the world? This question haunts
Masha Gessen�s �Perfect Rigor,� a dogged portrait of an elusive man...
Continued: http://tr.im/HssI
Interview with the author at Amazon.com: http://tr.im/HssC