Perelman rejects $1,000,000 prize

[EnumaElish]

Grigory Perelman, a reclusive Russian mathematics genius who made headlines earlier this year for not immediately embracing a lucrative math prize, has decided to decline the cash.

[...]

"To put it short, the main reason is my disagreement with the organized mathematical community," Perelman, 43, told Interfax. "I don't like their decisions, I consider them unjust."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38039068/ns/technology_and_science-science/?gt1=43001

Does anyone know which decisions he considers unjust, and why?

 

[leroyjenkens]

People that smart tend to be weirdos.

 

[humanino]

 

[Office_Shredder]

He had some sort of nasty breakup with the university department he was at (Moscow?). Also some Chinese mathematicians tried to claim a large part of the credit for his proof on the basis that they were the ones that checked it for inaccuracies.

 

[waht]

Someone also mentioned in another blog about the possibility of Russian mafia trying to get the piece of the pie by extortion.

 

[cronxeh]

Someone also mentioned in another blog about the possibility of Russian mafia trying to get the piece of the pie by extortion.

That would be more incentive for him to take the prize. I think he is just idealistic and doesn't consider money to be a virtue or some other old ideology from the socialist days

 

[xxChrisxx]

A million quid would make my disagreements go away very quickly.

 

[Mu naught]

Let the man do as he wants, he obviously doesn't see the world the same as most people.

 

[Moonbear]

To each his own. If I were in the same situation and had a disagreement over where the money came from, I think I'd accept it and then write a big check to my favorite charity or two.

 

[Dembadon]

Humanino, that is precisely the clip that popped into my head when I read Perelman's response.

 

[KalamMekhar]

A true man. He has shown that doing something isn't about the money.

 

[humanino]

Humanino, that is precisely the clip that popped into my head when I read Perelman's response.

We all have reasons and make decisions which can appear ludicrous to others. I know some things about Perelman, but I do not know him personally, and I think his achievements qualify him for not being judged lightly, and certainly one should rather concentrate on trying to understand those achievements, they are more important. Feynman expresses his own reasons, I do not know to what extent they overlap with Pereleman's, and I think there is always a story behind we cannot be fully aware of.

 

[rasmhop]

From http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/28/060828fa_fact2?currentPage=all" (emphasis added by me):

Perelman repeatedly said that he had retired from the mathematics community and no longer considered himself a professional mathematician. He mentioned a dispute that he had had years earlier with a collaborator over how to credit the author of a particular proof, and said that he was dismayed by the discipline’s lax ethics. “It is not people who break ethical standards who are regarded as aliens,” he said. “It is people like me who are isolated.” We asked him whether he had read Cao and Zhu’s paper. “It is not clear to me what new contribution did they make,” he said. “Apparently, Zhu did not quite understand the argument and reworked it.” As for Yau, Perelman said, “I can’t say I’m outraged. Other people do worse. Of course, there are many mathematicians who are more or less honest. But almost all of them are conformists. They are more or less honest, but they tolerate those who are not honest.”
The prospect of being awarded a Fields Medal had forced him to make a complete break with his profession. “As long as I was not conspicuous, I had a choice,” Perelman explained. “Either to make some ugly thing”—a fuss about the math community’s lack of integrity—“or, if I didn’t do this kind of thing, to be treated as a pet. Now, when I become a very conspicuous person, I cannot stay a pet and say nothing. That is why I had to quit.” We asked Perelman whether, by refusing the Fields and withdrawing from his profession, he was eliminating any possibility of influencing the discipline. “I am not a politician!” he replied, angrily. Perelman would not say whether his objection to awards extended to the Clay Institute’s million-dollar prize. “I’m not going to decide whether to accept the prize until it is offered,” he said.

Perelman has also stated he considers Richard Hamilton's work on the problem to contribute just as much to the solution as his work. This is a common problem with many large problems whose solutions depend on the many mathematicians making small contributions toward the solution, but often only the person providing the last significant part is credited.

Ultimately why does it really matter? He refused the prize and that is his decision to make. He probably has reasons not disclosed to the public.

 

[Dragonfall]

Guess the clay math institute did not see this coming 10 years ago. What will they do with the prize money? Split it onto the remaining prizes?

 

[arildno]

Guess the clay math institute did not see this coming 10 years ago. What will they do with the prize money? Split it onto the remaining prizes?

Give them to ME!

 

[Dragonfall]

All you have to do is solve P vs NP in the positive, and then answer the remaining 5 questions in polynomial time.