Grigori Perelman, Mathematician, Rejects $1 Million Prize

Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman officially turned down the $1 million prize awarded him by the Clay Mathematics Institute, according to the institute.
Grigori Perelman, Mathematician, Rejects $1 Million Prize
7/2/2010
Updated:
7/3/2010
Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman officially turned down the $1 million prize awarded to him by the Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI), according to the institute website. Perelman won the prize for proving the Poincaré conjunction, one of the hardest and most well-known math problems of the century.

Perelman rejected the award “completely and entirely,” reported Voice of Russia, due to “unjust” decisions made by the math community. Perelman believed that Richard Hamilton, an American mathematician that made great contributions to the establishment of the Ricci flow equation, deserved the same prize and honor as himself. The Ricci flow equation formed the “core of Perelman’s method of proof,” says CMI. CMI’s disregard of Hamilton prompted Perelman’s decision to give up the award.

According to the CMI press release, the Poincaré conjunction was one of the seven Millennium Prize problems issued by the institute 10 years ago. The problem, in simple terms, is to prove whether a three-dimensional shape that satisfies the “simple connectivity test”— i.e. that all loops drawn on that surface can be stretched and moved on the surface until they return to their original position—is equivalent in shape to a three-dimensional sphere. The problem was first raised by French mathematician Henri Poincaré in 1904.

Throughout the century, many brilliant mathematicians have attempted to solve the extremely complex problem, but only few came close to the answer. The math community was surprised when Perelman posted his solution online at www.ArXiv.org in 2003. It took several years before other mathematicians proved his theory correct.

Perelman’s accomplishment was a breakthrough in the field of mathematics. James Carlson, President of CMI, said in a press release when the prize was first announced in March, “the resolution of the Poincaré conjecture by Grigori Perelman brings to a close the century-long quest for the solution. It is a major advance in the history of mathematics that will long be remembered.”

Even so, Perelman feels that his efforts are equal to the efforts of the mathematicians’ who paved the way before him. He did not attend the celebration conference for the resolution of the Poincaré conjunction held in Paris on June 8-9. He later informed CMI of his decision to decline the cash prize.

According to the notice on the CMI website, the money will be used to benefit mathematics and there will be an official announcement regarding the use of the money in the fall of 2010.