Who is Grigory Perelman? Nobel Prize: why he refused it?

The scientist wanted to award Fields medal, the highest award of the International Union of Mathematics. Since the Nobel Prize is not awarded to the members of this union, this honor is considered the highest.

Brilliant discovery

In 2002, the website of the Los Alamos Laboratory of Science was enriched by the solution of the task carried out by Grigory. When he refused the prize, the international congress on mathematics did not want to take this decision to the last and tried to persuade the scientist. They said that there was no information about the reluctance to receive the award from Perelman, especially since there were no official data on the reward at the time.

Nomination for awarding

When the winners were finally announced, among them was mathematician Grigory Perelman along with Andrei Okunov, who at that time was working in the US. Recluse did not find among the scientists who came to the congress. They did not even get an answer from him about the letter informing him about awarding him a prize. The conference guests were perplexed, like the organizers. As it turned out later, the scientist said his unwillingness to receive money a few months before the meeting.

What kind of person is this?

How he did not like the attention of the general public before the nomination, it was after the honors. When a strange event took place, it was known about him was not enough. Is that the year of his birth was 1966, and the place - Leningrad. Parents were employees.

At the age of sixteen he received a gold medal in school and graduated from an educational institution. Already there he began to study in depth the work of his life. 1982 was remembered by participation in the International Mathematics Olympiad, which was held among Soviet schools. This event opened for the boy Budapest. Then, without exams, he got to the Leningrad State University at the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics.

Career

In St. Petersburg he defended his thesis, graduating from the State University. The first place of work was the Math. Steklov. The end of the eighties brought him a change of residence to the United States. American universities accepted him as their teacher. Then he returned to his homeland and again worked at the Steklov Institute. All his thoughts were taken up by the Poincare conjecture.

There were a number of other awards that Gregory ignored. The mathematical world wanted to give him recognition and respect, money. But all this was unnecessary for him. 1996 was marked by the rejection of the European Congress of Mathematics. At the ceremony, which took place in honor of the award, he also did not show up.

He was expected until the last

The congress was held in Spain. A lot of brilliant mathematicians came to the capital. There was to arrive and Perelman. Nobel Prize obediently waited for him with respect, honor and a monetary prize of $ 1 million. However, they were not destined to fall into the hands of a scientist.

The members of the conference heard about the extravagance of the Russian mathematician and suspected that the option that would give up the Nobel Prize for Perelman is not so much like fiction.

Gregory did not publish a proof of the theorem, which was so interested in the scientific world. Specialized publications waited for materials from him, but they did not receive them. It is hard to overestimate his contribution to science to those who understand why Perelman received the Nobel Prize. The brilliant opening was followed by the dismissal, which surprised the Steklov Institute of Mathematics. Steklov.

What happened to him further

Perelman rushed to recluse. The Nobel Prize and the money that came with it were never an end in itself for the scientist. He never came to Spain for his Fields Medal award, forcing many to speculate about the reasons for such a strange act.

Why did Perelman refuse the Nobel Prize? After all, colleagues in science, all scientific figures of that time were ready to applaud him standing up. Before him, many scientists puzzled over the solution of Poincare's theorem, to which he finally shed light. The discovery was facilitated by the work of no mathematician. As far back as 1904, the world became acquainted with the hypothesis of Poincaré, which introduced it into meditation for a century. There were many variants of evidence, but none failed to be recognized as true, while the scientist got to the truth and provided a scientific explanation to the scientific world.

Perelman did not leave the thoughts of the people. The Nobel Prize is rejected by him, so you need at least to understand the reason. The American magazine The New Yorker in the person of its correspondents interrupted the retreat of Grigory. His house at the time was the outskirts of St. Petersburg, where the film crew was. From the mathematician, they learned that Grigory Perelman refused the Nobel Prize in connection with personal principled considerations.

A mathematician for a long time was a real mystery for the media. What could be so important and weighty to ward off the desire to get a million dollars and go to Madrid?

Protest called his actions Perelman. The Nobel Prize in his eyes spoils the mores of the modern mathematical world, as American journalists have learned. Science must hold on to honesty. For the sake of pecuniary reward, many are ready to deceive, become charlatans. Then the thinking people will care not for the result, but for the money, and they will direct their thinking potential to cunning, and not to discoveries.

Better is poor, but according to the principles

At that moment Perelman Gregory was unemployed. Of course, the Nobel Prize would help him financially and improve his life, but he decided that the old savings are a sufficient standard for existence. His mother had to share his pension with him. She herself taught mathematics at school earlier. Even if there was a desire, according to Grigory, he would not be able to get to Spain due to lack of funds for the road.

The establishment of the most prestigious mathematical award took place in 1936 year. Perelman was the first to reject honors during this time. Unless from the Nobel Prize in due time refused for political reasons Pasternak. Fields medal can be obtained by a researcher who is less than 40 years old. That is, in the future Grigory this award is no longer shining. He missed his only chance. His contribution to science can be rightfully called invaluable. Thanks to this development of mathematics has made one significant step forward. Many modern studies did not move from the dead end precisely because of the secrecy of Poincare's theorem. The idea of the physical and mathematical foundations of the universe expanded and gained greater clarity. Perelman can be called one of the greatest scientists of the present and the past. We all could notice that geniuses really have their strangenesses.