Grigory Perelman refused a million dollars. Grigory Perelman regretted turning down a million dollars
Do you consider the scientist Perelman normal who refused Nobel Prize?
- he refused not the Nobel Prize, but the promised million for proving the theorem and the Fields Prize, consisting of a precious medal and monetary reward.
he is normal and apparently he has his reasons for this.Grigory Perelman, who proved Poincaré's theorem, refuses awards
Grigory Perelman, who proved the Poincaré conjecture, refuses numerous awards and cash prizes awarded to him for this achievement, the Guardian newspaper reports. After extensive review of the evidence, which lasted almost four years, the scientific community concluded that Perelman's solution was correct.
The Poincaré conjecture is one of the seven most important mathematical problems of the millennium, for the solution of each of which the Clay Mathematics Institute awarded a prize of one million dollars. Thus, Perelman should receive a reward. The scientist does not communicate with the press, but the newspaper learned that Perelman does not want to take this money. According to the mathematician, the committee that awarded the award was not qualified enough to evaluate his work.Owning a million dollars in St. Petersburg is not safe, the professional community jokingly suggests another reason for Perelman’s unusual behavior. Nigel Hitchin, professor of mathematics at Oxford University, told the newspaper about this.
Next week, according to rumors, it will be announced that Perelman has been awarded the most prestigious international Fields Medal in this field, consisting of a precious medal and a monetary award. The Fields Medal is considered the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize. It is awarded every four years at the International Mathematical Congress, and the prize winners should not be older than 40 years. Perelman, who will turn forty in 2006 and lose the chance to ever receive this prize, does not want to accept this award either.
It has long been known about Perelman that he avoids formal events and does not like to be admired. But in the current situation, the behavior of the scientist goes beyond the eccentricity of an armchair theorist. Perelman has already left academic work and refuses to perform professorial functions. Now he wants to hide from recognition of his services to mathematics as his life’s work.
Grigory Perelman worked on the proof of Poincaré's theorem for eight years. In 2002, he posted a solution to the problem on the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory preprint website. Until now, he has never published his work in a peer-reviewed journal, which is a prerequisite for most awards.
Perelman can be considered a standard example of the products of Soviet education. He was born in 1966 in Leningrad. He still lives in this city. Perelman studied at specialized school 239 with in-depth study of mathematics. He won countless Olympics. I was enrolled in mathematics and mechanics at Leningrad State University without exams. Received a Lenin scholarship. After university, he entered graduate school at the Leningrad branch of the Mathematical Institute. V.A. Steklova, where he remained to work. In the late eighties, Perelman moved to the USA, taught at several universities, and then returned to his old place.
The state of Count Muravyov's St. Petersburg mansion on the Fontanka, where the Mathematical Institute is located, makes Perelman's lack of silver especially inadequate. The building, as reported by the Izvestia newspaper, could collapse at any moment and fall into the river. The purchase of computer equipment (the only equipment needed by mathematicians) can still be financed with the help of various grants, but charitable organizations are not ready to pay for the restoration of a historical building.
- Pride and principles are above all)))
- Nobody offered him a Nobel prize. And he didn’t refuse anything. I just didn't show up for the Fields Medal ceremony.
Below from Wiki.
In June 2006, Chinese mathematicians Zhu Xiping and Cao Huaidong published the article A Complete Proof of the Poincaré Conjecture and the Geometric Conjecture: An Application of Hamilton Perelman's Theory of Ricci Flows, which unreasonably claims precedence in proving the Poincaré Conjecture, formulated by the French mathematician, physicist and philosopher Henri Poincaré in 1904 city 3On August 22, 2006, Grigory Perelman was awarded the international Fields Medal for solving the Poincaré conjecture. However, the Russian scientist refused to attend the award ceremony.
On December 22, 2006, Science magazine named the proof of Poincaré's theorem a scientific "Breakthrough of the Year"4. This is the first work in mathematics to earn this title.
The history of the Nobel Prize knows seven cases of refusal of a sinecure established by the creator of dynamite. However, if you carefully analyze all these plots, it turns out that only one was the only one that was justified and voluntary.
The first person to refuse to become a laureate was Leo Tolstoy.
Having learned that Russian Academy Sciences nominated him as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1906, Lev Nikolaevich fervently asked in a letter to his friend the Finnish writer and translator Arvid Järnefelt to ensure that the prize was not awarded to him. Tolstoy was convinced that the Nobel Prize was, first of all, money (which in those days, just ten years after Nobel’s death, was so). That is, in fact, the prize was not awarded to Tolstoy, therefore, from my point of view, it is impossible to consider his demarche as a refusal of it.
In 1937, Adolf Hitler banned German citizens from receiving Nobel Prizes because he was offended that the Swedish committee's award was given to Nazi critic Carl von Ossietzky. As a result, three prominent German scientists were forced to refuse to accept the prize:
Richard Kuhn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1938, was to receive the award for his work on carotenoids and vitamins.
Chemist Adolf Butenandt, who won the prize in chemistry together with the Swiss scientist L. Ruzicka.
And also bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1939 “for the discovery of the antibacterial effect of prontosil.”
Another Russian writer who refused a literary Nobel was Boris Pasternak in 1958. The Prize was awarded to Pasternak “for outstanding services in modern lyric poetry and in the field of great Russian prose.”
However, Pasternak did this not of his own free will, but under pressure from the authorities. About the same story happened 12 years later to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was awarded the prize “for moral strength gleaned from the tradition of great Russian literature.” Moreover, in 1975, after being expelled from the USSR, Solzhenitsyn received a prize, a diploma, and a laureate medal.
Therefore, the only person who actually refused the award of the Nobel Committee voluntarily was the French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre, who in 1964 was awarded the prize for literature “for his work, rich in ideas, permeated with the spirit of freedom and the search for truth, which had a huge influence on Nowadays".
Moreover, he publicly and in detail outlined why he was refusing the laurels coveted by many. Here is Sartre's statement to Swedish journalists in Paris on October 23, 1964:
WHY I REFUSED THE PRIZE
I very much regret that the matter took the form of a scandal: the prize was awarded, but it was refused.
The reason for this is that I was not notified in advance about what was being prepared. When in the Figaro Letterer of October 15 I read a message from its correspondent in Stockholm, which said that the Swedish Academy was leaning towards my candidacy, but the final choice had not yet been made, it seemed to me that by writing a letter to the Academy I had sent it to the next day - I could correct the situation in such a way that I would never return to this again.
I didn’t know then that the Nobel Prize is awarded regardless of the opinion of the future laureate, and I thought what else could be done to prevent this. But I understand perfectly well that once the Swedish Academy has made a choice, it cannot refuse it. As I explained in a letter to the Academy, my reasons for refusing the award have nothing to do with the Swedish Academy or the Nobel Prize as such. In this letter I mentioned two types of reasons - personal and objective.
PERSONAL REASONS
My refusal is not at all a rash action, since I have always rejected official insignia. When, after the Second World War, in 1945, I was offered the Legion of Honor, I refused it, although I had friends in the government. I never wanted to join the College de France, as some of my friends suggested to me.
This position is based on my understanding of the work of a writer. A writer who has taken a definite position in a political, social or cultural field must act only through those means that belong only to him, that is, the printed word.
All kinds of insignia expose his readers to pressures that I find undesirable. There is a difference between the signature "Jean-Paul Sartre" or "Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize Laureate."
The writer, having agreed to a difference of this kind, also binds the association or institution that noted it. So, my sympathies for the Venezuelan partisans concern only me. However, if “Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize laureate” comes out in defense of the Venezuelan resistance, he will thereby take the institution of the Nobel Prize along with him.
A writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution, even if, as in this case, it takes the most honorable forms.
It is clear that this is my purely personal position and does not contain any criticism of those who have already received this award. I have deep respect and admiration for the many honorees I have the honor of knowing.
OBJECTIVE REASONS
Currently the only possible form struggle on the cultural front - the struggle for the peaceful coexistence of two cultures: Eastern and Western. I do not want to say by this that fraternization of cultures is necessary. I understand perfectly well that the very comparison of these two cultures must inevitably take the form of conflict. But this comparison must occur between people and cultures without the interference of institutions.
I personally feel deeply the contradiction between these two cultures: I myself am a product of these contradictions. My sympathies inevitably lean towards socialism and the so-called Eastern bloc, but I was born and raised in a bourgeois family. This allows me to collaborate with everyone who wants to bring two cultures closer together. However, I naturally hope that “the best will win,” that is, socialism.
Therefore, I do not want to accept any awards from the Eastern or Western cultural authorities, although I understand perfectly well that they exist. Despite the fact that all my sympathies are on the side of socialism, I would equally not be able to accept, for example, the Lenin Prize if someone suddenly offered it to me.
I understand well that the Nobel Prize itself is not a literary prize of the Western bloc, but it was made one, and therefore became possible events, beyond the control of the Swedish Academy.
That is why, in the current climate, the Nobel Prize is in fact an award reserved for Western writers or "rebels" from the East. For example, Neruda, one of the greatest poets South America. Aragon's candidacy was never seriously discussed, although he is well deserving of the prize. It is regrettable that the Nobel Prize was awarded to Pasternak, not Sholokhov, and that the only Soviet work to receive the prize was a book published abroad and banned in home country. Balance could be restored with a similar gesture, but with the opposite meaning. During the Algerian War, when I and others signed the Manifesto of the 121st, I would have accepted this prize with gratitude, because it would not only have honored me alone, but glorified the cause of freedom for which we fought. But this did not happen, and the prize was awarded to me when the war was already over.
FREEDOM AND MONEY
The motivation of the Swedish Academy talks about freedom: this word has many interpretations. In the West it is understood only as freedom in general. As for me, I understand freedom in more concrete terms: as the right to have more than one pair of shoes and to eat according to one’s appetite. It seems to me less dangerous to refuse a bonus than to accept it. If I were to accept it, it would be to accept what I would call "objective damages." I read in Le Figaro litterer that “my controversial political past will not be held against me.” I know this article does not express the opinion of the Academy, but it clearly shows how my agreement would be interpreted in some right-wing circles. I believe that this "controversial political past" is still valid, although I am willing to admit among my comrades some mistakes made in the past.
I don't mean to say that the Nobel Prize is a "bourgeois prize." But such a bourgeois interpretation would absolutely inevitably be given by circles that are well known to me.
Finally, I come to the question of money: the Swedish Academy places a heavy burden on the shoulders of the laureate, adding a large sum of money to the general honor. This problem tormented me. Or accept the award and use the amount received to support movements and organizations whose work is considered important. Personally, I was thinking about the London Anti-Apartheid Committee. Or refuse it due to general principles and deprive the movement of the support it needs.
But I think this is a false alternative. I, of course, refuse 250 thousand crowns, because I do not want to be officially assigned to either the eastern or western bloc. But at the same time, you cannot demand from me that for 250 thousand crowns I renounce principles that are not only my own, but also shared by all my comrades.
All this made the award of the prize and the refusal with which I was obliged to greet it especially painful for me.
I would like to end this statement by expressing my sympathies to the Swedish public.
In the photo (from left to right) - Fidel Castro, Simone De Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernesto Che Guevara. Havana, Cuba, February-March 1960.
They wanted to award the scientist a Fields medal, the highest award of the International Union of Mathematics. Since the Nobel Prize is not awarded to members of this union, this honor is considered the highest.
Brilliant discovery
In 2002, the website of the Los Alamos Laboratory of Sciences was enriched with the solution of the problem carried out by Gregory. When he refused the prize, the International Congress of Mathematics did not want to accept his decision until the very end and tried to convince the scientist. They said that there was no information about Perelman’s reluctance to receive the award, especially since there was no official information regarding the award at that time.
Award Nomination
When the laureates were finally announced, mathematician Grigory Perelman was among them, along with Andrei Okunov, who at that time was working in the USA. The recluse was not found among the scientists who came to the congress. We did not even receive a response from him to the letter informing us that he had been awarded the award. The conference guests were perplexed, as were the organizers. As it turned out later, the scientist stated his reluctance to receive money several months before the meeting.
What kind of person is this
Just as he disliked the attention of the general public before the nomination, so it was after the honours. When the strange event took place, little was known about it. Is it that the year of his birth was 1966, and the place was Leningrad. Parents were employees.
In the sixteenth year of his life he received at school and graduated educational institution. Already there he began to study his life's work in depth. 1982 was remembered for participation in the International Mathematics Olympiad, which was held among Soviet schools. This event opened Budapest for the boy. Then, without exams, he got into Leningrad State University at the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics.
Career
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 refusal of the European Congress of Mathematics Prize. He also did not appear at the award ceremony.
They waited for him until the last minute
The congress was held in Spain. Many brilliant mathematicians came to the capital. Perelman was also supposed to arrive there. The Nobel Prize humbly awaited him along with respect, honor and a cash prize of a million dollars. However, they were not destined to fall into the hands of the scientist.
The conference members had heard a lot about the extravagance of the Russian mathematician and suspected that the option in which Perelman would refuse the Nobel Prize was not so similar to science fiction.
Gregory did not publish the proof of the theorem, which was so interesting scientific world. Specialized publications expected materials from him, but never received them. It is difficult to overestimate his contribution to science for those who understand why Perelman received the Nobel Prize. The brilliant discovery was followed by a dismissal, which surprised the Mathematical Institute. Steklova.
What happened to him next
Perelman rushed towards seclusion. The Nobel Prize and the money that comes with it have never been an end in itself for a scientist. He never came to Spain to collect his Fields medal, leaving many to wonder about the reasons for such a strange act.
Why did Perelman refuse the Nobel Prize? After all, his colleagues in science, all the scientists of that time, were ready to give him a standing ovation. Before him, many scientists puzzled over the solution to which he finally shed light. The discovery has made the work of more than one mathematician easier. Back in 1904, the world became acquainted with Poincaré's hypothesis, which led him into reverie for a century. There were many options for proof, but none could be recognized as correct, while the scientist got to the bottom of the truth and provided the scientific world with a reliable explanation.
Perelman never left people's thoughts. The Nobel Prize was rejected by him, so we need to at least understand the reason. American magazine The New Yorker, represented by its correspondents, interrupted Gregory's seclusion. His home at that moment was the outskirts of St. Petersburg, where the film crew came. They learned from the mathematician that Grigory Perelman refused the Nobel Prize due to personal reasons of principle.
Been a mathematician for a long time a real mystery for the media. What could be so important and significant as to ward off the desire to get a million dollars and go to Madrid?
Perelman called his actions a protest. The Nobel Prize in his eyes spoils the morals of the modern mathematical world, as American journalists learned. Science must be based on honesty. For the sake of monetary reward, many are ready to commit deception and become charlatans. Then thinking people will care not about the result, but about money, and they will direct their mental potential to cunning, and not to discoveries.
It's better to be poor, but according to principles
At that moment, Grigory Perelman was unemployed. The Nobel Prize, of course, would have helped him financially and improved his life, but he decided that his previous savings were a sufficient standard for existence. His mother had to share her pension with him. She herself previously taught mathematics at school. Even if there was a desire, according to Gregory, he would not be able to get to Spain due to lack of funds for the trip.
The most prestigious mathematical prize was established in 1936. Perelman became the first to reject honors during this time. Unless he refused the Nobel Prize at one time due to political reasons Parsnip. The Fields medal can be received by a researcher who is under 40 years of age. That is, in the future, Gregory will no longer receive this award. He missed his only chance. His contribution to science can rightfully be called invaluable. Thanks to this, the development of mathematics took one significant step forward. Many modern studies have not gotten off the ground precisely because of the mystery of Poincaré's theorem. The idea of the physical and mathematical foundations of the universe has expanded and gained greater clarity. Perelman can be called one of the greatest scientists of the present and past. We all may have noticed that geniuses do have their own quirks.
Grigory Perelman. refusenik
Vasily Maksimov
In August 2006, the names of the best mathematicians on the planet were announced who received the prestigious Fields Medal - a kind of analogue of the Nobel Prize, which mathematicians, at the whim of Alfred Nobel, were deprived of. The Fields Medal - in addition to a badge of honor, the winners are awarded a check for fifteen thousand Canadian dollars - is awarded by the International Congress of Mathematicians every four years. It was established by Canadian scientist John Charles Fields and was first awarded in 1936. Since 1950, the Fields Medal has been awarded regularly personally by the King of Spain for his contribution to the development of mathematical science. Prize winners can be from one to four scientists under the age of forty. Forty-four mathematicians, including eight Russians, have already received the prize.
Grigory Perelman. Henri Poincaré.
In 2006, the laureates were the Frenchman Wendelin Werner, the Australian Terence Tao and two Russians - Andrey Okunkov working in the USA and Grigory Perelman, a scientist from St. Petersburg. However, at the last moment it became known that Perelman refused this prestigious award - as the organizers announced, “for reasons of principle.”
Such an extravagant act by the Russian mathematician did not come as a surprise to people who knew him. This is not the first time he has refused mathematical awards, explaining his decision by saying that he does not like ceremonial events and unnecessary hype around his name. Ten years ago, in 1996, Perelman refused the European Mathematical Congress prize, citing the fact that he had not completed the work on the scientific problem nominated for the award, and this was not the last case. Russian mathematician as if he had made it his life's goal to surprise people by going against public opinion and the scientific community.
Grigory Yakovlevich Perelman was born on June 13, 1966 in Leningrad. WITH youth got carried away exact sciences, graduated with distinction from the famous 239th high school with in-depth study of mathematics, won numerous mathematical Olympiads: for example, in 1982, as part of a team of Soviet schoolchildren, he participated in the International Mathematical Olympiad, held in Budapest. Without exams, Perelman was enrolled in the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Leningrad University, where he studied with excellent marks, continuing to win mathematical competitions at all levels. After graduating from the university with honors, he entered graduate school at the St. Petersburg branch of the Steklov Mathematical Institute. His scientific supervisor was the famous mathematician Academician Aleksandrov. Having defended his Ph.D. thesis, Grigory Perelman remained at the institute, in the laboratory of geometry and topology. His work on the theory of Alexandrov spaces is known; he was able to find evidence for a number of important conjectures. Despite numerous offers from leading Western universities, Perelman prefers to work in Russia.
His most notable success was the solution in 2002 of the famous Poincaré conjecture, published in 1904 and since then remained unproven. Perelman worked on it for eight years. The Poincaré conjecture was considered one of the greatest mathematical mysteries, and its solution was considered the most important achievement in mathematical science: it would immediately advance research into the problems of the physical and mathematical foundations of the universe. The most prominent minds on the planet predicted its solution only in a few decades, and the Clay Institute of Mathematics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, included the Poincaré problem among the seven most interesting unsolved mathematical problems of the millennium, for the solution of each of which a million dollar prize was promised (Millennium Prize Problems). .
The conjecture (sometimes called the problem) of the French mathematician Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) is formulated as follows: any closed simply connected three-dimensional space is homeomorphic to a three-dimensional sphere. To clarify, use a clear example: if you wrap an apple with a rubber band, then, in principle, by tightening the tape, you can compress the apple into a point. If you wrap a donut with the same tape, you cannot compress it to a point without tearing either the donut or the rubber. In this context, an apple is called a “simply connected” figure, but a donut is not simply connected. Almost a hundred years ago, Poincaré established that a two-dimensional sphere is simply connected, and suggested that a three-dimensional sphere is also simply connected. The best mathematicians in the world could not prove this hypothesis.
To qualify for the Clay Institute Prize, Perelman only had to publish his solution in one of the scientific journals, and if within two years no one can find an error in his calculations, then the solution will be considered correct. However, Perelman deviated from the rules from the very beginning, publishing his decision on the preprint website of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Perhaps he was afraid that an error had crept into his calculations - a similar story had already happened in mathematics. In 1994, the English mathematician Andrew Wiles proposed a solution to Fermat’s famous theorem, and a few months later it turned out that an error had crept into his calculations (although it was later corrected, and the sensation still took place). There is still no official publication of the proof of the Poincaré conjecture, but there is an authoritative opinion of the best mathematicians on the planet confirming the correctness of Perelman’s calculations.
The Fields Medal was awarded to Grigory Perelman precisely for solving the Poincaré problem. But the Russian scientist refused the prize, which he undoubtedly deserves. “Gregory told me that he feels isolated from the international mathematical community, outside this community, and therefore does not want to receive the award,” Englishman John Ball, president of the World Union of Mathematicians (WUM), said at a press conference in Madrid.
There are rumors that Grigory Perelman is going to leave science altogether: six months ago he resigned from his native Steklov Mathematical Institute, and they say that he will no longer study mathematics. Perhaps the Russian scientist believes that by proving the famous hypothesis, he has done everything he could for science. But who will undertake to discuss the train of thought of such a bright scientist and extraordinary person?.. Perelman refuses any comments, and he told The Daily Telegraph newspaper: “None of what I can say is of the slightest public interest.” However, leading scientific publications were unanimous in their assessments when they reported that “Grigory Perelman, having resolved the Poincaré theorem, stood on a par with the greatest geniuses of the past and present.”
Monthly literary and journalistic magazine and publishing house.
Events
The famous scientist Grigory Perelman, a 43-year-old reclusive mathematician with long hair and with a proud look, living in a half-empty St. Petersburg apartment with his old mother, is now famous not only for his achievements in the field of mathematics, but also for the fact that gave up a million dollars.
Perelman has turned down awards before: in 2006, he was due to receive a medal for his "contributions to geometry and revolutionary views on analytical and geometric structures" in the field of topology. And the magazine "Science" named his work a breakthrough of the year. This was the first time recognized work in the field of mathematics.
And so, 3 months ago, the Clay Institute awarded Perelman $1 million for his achievements in the field of mathematics: he solved a problem in three-dimensional geometry that many bright minds had been struggling with since 1904. Poincaré's conjecture deals with complex problems in the field of topology, a branch of mathematics that studies the phenomenon of continuity, in particular the properties of space that remain unchanged under continuous deformations. The interesting thing is that, having proven the hypothesis, Perelman posted it on the Internet, but did not inform his colleagues about the decision. It took mathematicians two years to determine whether he solved it correctly.
Perelman, known for his extraordinary abilities and eccentricity, refused the money and reward. He stated that he did not do anything special since he was following solutions started by other mathematicians. According to Perelman, his contribution to the proof of the hypothesis was no greater than that of the American mathematician Richard Hamilton, who was the first to suggest a solution.
However, Clay Institute President James Carlson has a different opinion. He believes that it was Perelman who managed to solve the Poincaré conjecture. Many mathematicians use the instructions of their predecessors, but only only a few manage to solve problems.
As soon as Perelman posted the proof of the hypothesis, several leading American universities immediately invited him to work. In America, he surprised all his colleagues and continued to correspond with them after his return. But after a few years, Perelman stopped answering letters, and left the world of mathematics.
The Clay Institute was founded in 1998 by Boston businessman Landon Clay and his wife. Its purpose was "to increase and disseminate knowledge in the field of mathematics." The million dollars awarded to Perelman would be the first of 7 awards given by the institute to mathematicians who have proven or solved problems that scientists have been struggling with for years. How the institute will manage the million dollars will be known only in the fall.
