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2006 Fields Medalists Announced
otisaardvark writes "The 2006 Fields medals, awarded every four years and described as the Nobel Prize for Mathematics, have been awarded at the International Congress of Mathematicians. The winners are Grigory Perelman (famous for the ideas underlying the proof of the Poincare and Thurston geometrization conjectures) — who declined the prize, Terence Tao (a child prodigy famous for proving there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions of primes, but who works mainly in nonlinear partial differential equations and harmonic analysis), Wendelin Werner (a probabilist working on links with 2D conformal field theories), and Andrei Okounkov (who works on the interface between algebraic geometry and physics)." Yours Truly wrote to mention that Grigory Perelman actually refused his Fields Medalist, on the grounds that he 'doesn't want to be seen as a figurehead'.
Fixed link for Terence Tao
By refusing the award, Grigory Perelman is actually turning himself into an even more notable figure than if he'd just accept it quietly. This way he becomes a quirky genius mathematician that fits right into a common stereotype. Everyone loves to call attention to those who fit their stereotypes.
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From the last link,
Not a flat refusal, butNo folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
I guess for this guy match (sic) is all that matters and everything else would just be a distraction.
Umm, no -- Maths is apparently a painful subject for him. From Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
"On August 22, 2006, Perelman was awarded a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid. The Fields Medal is the highest award in mathematics; two to four medals are awarded every four years. Perelman received the award "for his contributions to geometry and his revolutionary insights into the analytical and geometric structure of the Ricci flow"[3].
However, Perelman did not turn up at the ceremony[4], and declined to accept the medal.[5] He has consistently been described by those who know him as shy and unworldly. In the 1990s, he turned down a prestigious prize from the European Mathematical Society. According to Overbye and other sources, Perelman suffered a bitter split with the Steklov Institute (which failed to re-elect him as member[6]) in the spring of 2003, and according to the testimony of his friends currently finds mathematics a painful topic to talk about, even going so far as to say that they no longer interest him[7]. He is currently jobless and living with his mother in St Petersburg, subsisting on her £30-a-month pension.[8] This reminds some observers of previous examples of "disappearances" of extremely talented mathematicians from the mathematical scene, including Alexander Grothendieck.
Perelman is also due to receive a share of a Millennium Prize, should his proof become generally accepted. However, he has not pursued formal publication of his proof in a peer-reviewed mathematics journal, which the rules for this prize require - instead, he published the proof that he had been working on for 10 years on the internet.[9] The Clay Mathematics Institute has explicitly stated that the governing board which awards the prizes may change the formal requirements, in which case Perelman would presumably become eligible to receive a share of the prize. Perelman, however, appears to be uninterested in the money."
Way to make me feel dumb.
ICM gold before age 13, SAT math score of 760 at age 8, seriously, what the hell.
I wonder if he ever appeared for the Putname exams.
He was a child prodidy growing up, see my other post for a link to his Wikipedia page.
It's a pseudonym used by directors who want to be disassociated with a film for which they no longer want credit. The only reason I know this is that my wife is a film geek. Here's the wikipedia article for more info. Fascinating, really. To use the name, you basically have to prove to the DGA that the film has been taken over by someone else and you no longer have creative control.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
That's a different award. It is contained in a section of the article detailing the awards he has declined. Stop skimming and start perusing before you draw conclusions.
I have been to SIAM meetings, and female representation is not as bad as some other specialties. I work in chemical process control, and the American Control Conference is probably the conference with the most XY I have ever seen, percentage wise. Math+computers+robotics/automation for some reason does not attract too many women, but there are a few.