wheres genius who solved $1m maths puzzle?
The Times August 16, 2006 Next problem: where’s the genius who solved $1m maths puzzle? From James Bone in New York and Jeremy Page in Moscow THE search is on for a reclusive Russian mathematics genius who has solved a century-old problem called the Poincaré conjecture. Grigori Perelman, 40, known as “Grisha”, is a leading contender to win the Fields Medal, the mathematics equivalent of a Nobel prize, at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid next Tuesday.He is also in line to receive a $1 million (£530,000) cash prize from an American institute for his proof of one of the seven greatest mathematical mysteries. However, colleagues describe Dr Perelman, who is said to have resigned his post at the renowned Steklov Institute of Mathematics in St Petersburg, as an unworldly figure who may not turn up in Madrid even if he wins his profession’s top honour. Gang Tian, a Princeton professor who has co-written a 473-page guide to Dr Perelman’s proof of Poincaré’s conjecture, sa
