The epilogue of my book is devoted to the Poincaré conjecture, the famously challenging 98-year old topological puzzler that was proved in 2002 by Grisha Perelman.
Perelman was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006 for this accomplishment, but he declined to accept the award.
Today the Clay Mathematics Institute issued a press release that begins:
First Clay Mathematics Institute Millennium Prize Announced Today
Prize for Resolution of the Poincaré Conjecture Awarded to Dr. Grigoriy Perelman
The Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) announces today that Dr. Grigoriy Perelman of St. Petersburg, Russia, is the recipient of the Millennium Prize for resolution of the Poincaré conjecture. The citation for the award reads:
The Clay Mathematics Institute hereby awards the Millennium Prize for resolution of the Poincaré conjecture to Grigoriy Perelman.
It is well-known that the Clay prize comes with $1 million in prize money. As you might guess, Twitter is abuzz with the news and speculation as to whether Perelman will accept the money.
The most reliable information I have seen are two tweets by Alex Bellos, who wrote:
and
Carlson: “[Perelman] probably needs a little time to think about it” #perelman
Oh, if you would like to know what the Poincaré conjecture is, check out this video…
I really hope this he accepts this. Nice poem as well. Thanks for posting.
By: Rethnakaran Pulikkoonattu on March 21, 2010
at 8:22 pm
He turned that prize and the Fields medal down, reminds me of people like Paul Erdos who do it for the sake of mathematics
By: Steven on March 28, 2010
at 10:04 pm
[...] William’s “Drop it Like it’s Hot”) by Steve Sawin (AKA Slim Dorky) (lyrics). I posted this video about the Poincare conjecture on the day that Perelman was chosen as a Clay Millennium prize [...]
By: Music is math: ten songs about mathematics « Division by Zero on January 15, 2011
at 10:34 pm