Math genius lives with roaches, rejects $1.1Mprize

[86 IROC-Z]

A Russian man billed as the world's smartest man has turned down a $1.1 million prize for solving a mathematical equation, despite living in a bare, cockroach-infested flat.

Grigory Perelman, 44, said he had all he wanted, despite living as a recluse in an untidy apartment in St Petersburg, the Daily Mail reports.

Mr Perelman turned down a $1.1 million award for solving the Poincare Conjecture, one of the most difficult mathematical problems ever conceived.

The US Clay Mathematics Institute announced the reclusive Russian man had won the prize money over the internet.

A former researcher at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in St Petersburg, Mr Perelman has said he is not interested in money or fame.

His neighbour Vera Petrovna said she had been trying to rid her apartment block of cockroaches, but the insects had taken refuge in the mathematician's flat.

"I was once in his flat and I was astounded," she said.

"He only has a table, a stool and a bed with a dirty mattress which was left by previous owners - alcoholics who sold the flat to him."

Mr Perelman surprised the mathematics community when he failed to turn up to receive the highly sought-after Fields Medal at a ceremony in Spain four years ago, saying he did not want to be on display like "an animal in a zoo".

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/103...urns-down-1-1m

I love stories like these. I think it's awesome that there are people who can completely ignore the desires that most of society stereotypically has and can just be content living life how they want to, like this guy, who is happy living with roaches and doing math problems, his only possessions a table, stool, and dirty mattress.

[KnightmareWS6]

That's pretty crazy. Even if I was that guy, I'd at least take the money to get a new mattress and get rid of the cockroaches.

[Spaz]

That's pretty crazy. Even if I was that guy, I'd at least take the money to get a new mattress and get rid of the cockroaches.

they might be his pets...

it's good to see that people aren't always motivated by money...

[third_shift|studios]

soooooo what was the answer?

[KnightmareWS6]

they might be his pets...

it's good to see that people aren't always motivated by money...

I was thinking that same thing, lol.

[allbaugh_04]

Unbelievable...but very interesting.

What does he do in his free time

[0rion]

soooooo what was the answer?

4...

[86 IROC-Z]

soooooo what was the answer?

The Poincaré conjecture says that if a 3-dimensional manifold is compact, has no boundary and is simply connected, then it is homeomorphic to a 3-dimensional sphere.

Key terms:

1D sphere (Circle)


2D sphere (Common Ball):


3-sphere (4D Ball):


Manifold:
A manifold is a surface created by taking another surface and warping it

Further example, torus:


Simply Connected:
A manifold is simply connected if any loop drawn on the space can be deformed to a point without leaving the manifold.
Impossible on a sphere (it would fall off)

Possible on a donut


Perelman (using ideas originally from Hamilton) proved the conjecture by deforming the manifold using something called the Ricci flow (which behaves similarly to the heat equation that describes the diffusion of heat through an object). The Ricci flow usually deforms the manifold towards a rounder shape, except for some cases where it stretches the manifold apart from itself (like hot mozzarella) towards what are known as singularities. Perelman and Hamilton then chop the manifold at the singularities (a process called "surgery") causing the separate pieces to form into ball-like shapes. Major steps in the proof involve showing how manifolds behave when they are deformed by the Ricci flow, examining what sort of singularities develop, determining whether this surgery process can be completed and wondering whether the surgery might need to be repeated infinitely many times.

[KnightmareWS6]

The Poincaré conjecture says that if a 3-dimensional manifold is compact, has no boundary and is simply connected, then it is homeomorphic to a 3-dimensional sphere.

Key terms:

1D sphere (Circle)


2D sphere (Common Ball):


3-sphere (4D Ball):


Manifold:
A manifold is a surface created by taking another surface and warping it

Further example, torus:


Simply Connected:
A manifold is simply connected if any loop drawn on the space can be deformed to a point without leaving the manifold.
Impossible on a sphere (it would fall off)

Possible on a donut


Perelman (using ideas originally from Hamilton) proved the conjecture by deforming the manifold using something called the Ricci flow (which behaves similarly to the heat equation that describes the diffusion of heat through an object). The Ricci flow usually deforms the manifold towards a rounder shape, except for some cases where it stretches the manifold apart from itself (like hot mozzarella) towards what are known as singularities. Perelman and Hamilton then chop the manifold at the singularities (a process called "surgery") causing the separate pieces to form into ball-like shapes. Major steps in the proof involve showing how manifolds behave when they are deformed by the Ricci flow, examining what sort of singularities develop, determining whether this surgery process can be completed and wondering whether the surgery might need to be repeated infinitely many times.

Reasons why I'm a history major.................

[Tonik]

I'm a pretty hardcore nerd but I am a little lost on the above...

[Spaz]

I'm a pretty hardcore nerd but I am a little lost on the above...

it's about the manifold... and figureing out how to get one off of a circle... i think...

[Spaz]

it's about the manifold... and figureing out how to get one off of a circle... i think...

so i'm guessing he unravled the sphere and formed it into a torus???

[Tonik]

Wolfram explains the problem much better...

"the conjecture says that the three-sphere is the only type of bounded three-dimensional space possible that contains no holes."

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PoincareConjecture.html

[Spaz]

Wolfram explains the problem much better...

"the conjecture says that the three-sphere is the only type of bounded three-dimensional space possible that contains no holes."

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/PoincareConjecture.html

i see... makes me think of how a knot will only stay tied in the 3rd dimension for some reason...

[Tonik]

so i'm guessing he unravled the sphere and formed it into a torus???

A torus is a kind of compact manifold.

I'm not sure on the exact solution to the problem, I'd need to read up more on it.

EDIT: He is using the Ricci Flow equation...



Differential Geometry like this is a bit out of my league at the moment.

[Spaz]

A torus is a kind of compact manifold.

I'm not sure on the exact solution to the problem, I'd need to read up more on it.

i can tell you that it's way over my head... i'd be more lost than some one with alzheimers looking for their car at the mall...

[86 IROC-Z]

I'm a pretty hardcore nerd but I am a little lost on the above...

Yeah, I only posted that for the lulz, and to show that the solution couldn't be summarized with a single number or phrase

[Spaz]

Yeah, I only posted that for the lulz, and to show that the solution couldn't be summarized with a single number or phrase

it would probably eat all the bandwidth on the server do post it...

[Hi-Po]

Is it possible to be the dumbest, math genius... ever?

[86 IROC-Z]

Is it possible to be the dumbest, math genius... ever?

It only seems dumb to you because his choice based on preferences completely different from yours.