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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'.
Dear Grigory Perelman,
Thank you for helping us all resist the temptation to idolize you and attempt to imitate you. I can just imagine the stories of kids pulling a brain muscle trying to prove some obscure hypothesis at home.
Seriously, why not just accept the prize? Refusing it doesn't demonstrate your humility; in fact I suspect it shows you think too much of yourself. Just smile, say thanks, put the medal on your shelf, and move on with life.
You don't know very many mathematically-inclined people, do you? One trait that many of the true geniuses share is that they care little for material possessions. That includes money, and medals or awards. What matters to them is their work.
Such an idea may conflict horribly with your American money-is-everything attitude. But, yes, there are people out there who do care more about things other than money and fame.
Mel Gibson will not be happy with your comments.
...babes I ever dated was a math Phd and worked at JPL when she wasn't being a Uni professor. Curvy redhead. *Quite* the imagination and energy level. Quite.