HP Forum Archive 19

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Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #1 Posted by Don Shepherd on 1 July 2010, 11:22 p.m. Amazing.

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #2 Posted by Ángel Martin on 2 July 2010, 1:33 a.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd Indeed, yet not that completely unexpected given his former responses to similar events. Something to reflect on, that's for sure.

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #3 Posted by jbssm on 2 July 2010, 11:03 a.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd It's strange. This news is about 1 year old already but only now was published in the site you mention. Seems like one of the reasons for turning down the prize was some attrition with a Japanese researcher that was trying to take credit for what he made. But it's also nice to know that some people are in science just for knowledge, not for the money, even if given to them.

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #4 Posted by bill platt on 2 July 2010, 1:53 p.m., in response to message #3 by jbssm I love science, but I also have to eat :-)

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #5 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 2 July 2010, 4:23 p.m., in response to message #4 by bill platt So does he, but apparently he doesn't spend much money on food. Quoting from this link: "Every day they see him walk to a grocery shop at 1.30pm where he buys the same things: eggs, cheese, spaghetti, sour cream, bread and a kilo of oranges."

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #6 Posted by Glenn Shields on 2 July 2010, 4:49 p.m., in response to message #5 by Gerson W. Barbosa At least he peels his own citrus fruit, unlike Paul Erdos, the late number theory genius who had no home of his own, but would get his "guardian" to peel his grapefruits for him. From the article in Atlantic Monthly about "The man who loved only numbers" (is there a book?) about 10 years ago. According to him, Mr. Perelman has "died" (left the math world), but if a mathematician friend of his had passed away, he "left." A unique breed to be sure. :~)

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #7 Posted by bill platt on 2 July 2010, 5:23 p.m., in response to message #6 by Glenn Shields I think that article on Paul Erdos was more like 20 years ago! I remember reading in Atlantic or something like it about a "homeless" mathematician who could only wear silk. I stopped reading Atlantic regularly after college--work and HAM radio and other fun stuff got in the way--so it *must* have been 20 years ago:-)

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #8 Posted by Gerson W. Barbosa on 2 July 2010, 5:44 p.m., in response to message #6 by Glenn Shields Quote: ... "The man who loved only numbers" (is there a book?) ... Yes, there is: http://www.amazon.com/MAN-WHO-LOVED-ONLY-NUMBERS/dp/0786884061#_ By the way, the grapefruit story can be read at page 20.

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #9 Posted by Dave Shaffer (Arizona) on 2 July 2010, 2:26 p.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd Guess he doesn't need to buy any old HP calculators!

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #10 Posted by Dusan Zivkovic on 2 July 2010, 6:16 p.m., in response to message #1 by Don Shepherd I recently spoke about this to a colleague of mine, a Russian mathematician, a fellow City geek, who set me straight. "Perelman is a very reasonable chap," he said. "He's much safer and has a much simpler life not possessing one million dollars in Russia." Huh, that didn't occur to me...

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #11 Posted by Martin Pinckney on 2 July 2010, 6:47 p.m., in response to message #10 by Dusan Zivkovic Quote: "He's much safer and has a much simpler life not possessing one million dollars in Russia." With a million dollars he could leave Russia.

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #12 Posted by designnut on 3 July 2010, 10:10 a.m., in response to message #11 by Martin Pinckney I( had a brilliant EE Prof ands I asked hum why he didn't go into industry. He said I have graduate students to do my every bidding, I can order any equipment I want. I make more in the wsummer as a consultant than my salary as a professor. Maybe the man is just where he wants to be. I never made good money, if I hadn't liked the work I w3ould never have done it. Sam 81

Re: Russian mathematician turns down $1 million prize Message #13 Posted by BruceH on 4 July 2010, 1:27 p.m., in response to message #11 by Martin Pinckney [quote With a million dollars he could leave Russia. [/quote] And where would he go? ;-) Pace current events, if he went to the US he might have to register as an agent of a foreign power. Or in his case, an agent of a foreign geometric topology.

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