Academia, Bizarre, Science, Society

Good Grigory Perelman Not Hunting $1M Prize Because He Already “Control(s) the Universe”

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Perelman in 1993

Grigory  (“Grisha”)Perelman is an unusual man  — in very many respects. Living in near poverty with his mother in St. Petersburg, the forty-three year old Russian mathematician had a strange interest in an arcane problem known as the Poincare’ Conjecture. Proposed in 1904 by French mathematician, Henri Poincare’, the theorem contends that three-spheres are the only possible bounded three-dimensional spaces to contain no holes.

The conjecture also surmises that if a closed three-dimensional manifold is sufficiently like a sphere in that each loop in the manifold can be tightened to a point, then it is really just a three-dimensional sphere. This is the essential problem in topology which is the study of  the spatial properties of objects that are preserved under steady deformations. Or, as a math professor of mine called it, “rubber band studies.”

In Cambridge Massachusetts the esteemed fellows at the Clay Mathematics Institute were also interested in a proof of the theorem, so much so in fact, that they offered a prize of one million dollars to anyone who could do it.  Enter Perelman with two proofs which he deduced in 2002 and 2003.  You can read them here. In 2010, the prize was offered and to the dismay of the offeror was summarily rejected.

Explained Perelman,”I learned how to calculate voids, along with my colleagues we know the mechanisms for filling in the social and economic voids.”  The prodigy also added, “[e]mptiness is everywhere and it can be calculated, which gives us a great opportunity … I know how to control the universe. So tell me, why should I run for a million ?”

Perelman prefers to stay out of public view. “I do not think anything that I say can be of the slightest public interest. I am not saying that because I value my privacy, or that I am doing anything I want to hide. There are no top-secret projects going on here. I just believe the public has no interest in me.”

“…why should I run for a million ?”   Er, I’ll take that question for you there Mr. Genius.

Source: UPI

~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

34 thoughts on “Good Grigory Perelman Not Hunting $1M Prize Because He Already “Control(s) the Universe””

  2. That was third in the “Who Cares Contest”, second was the answer to the question “how many angels can dance on the head of a needls”, and first was … oops, sorry I forgot.

  3. First of all, I was promised there would be no math here!
    Secondly, beignet’s are dreamy even if you aren’t at the Cafe Du Monde. I had my first one in the late 70’s during my only trip to New Orleans. Now that I think of it, I am getting hungry.

  4. “… a beignet and café au lait from the Cafe Du Monde … on a spring morning in the Quarter” has cured many of my hang-overs.

  5. OS,

    There’s always room for beignets. 😀

    Painfully delicious in their simplicity and a good excuse to drink coffee & chicory.

    One of the few things I miss about New Orleans.

  6. BIL, what I REALLY would like to have right now is a beignet and café au lait from the Cafe Du Monde. Nothing like sitting at a sidewalk cafe on a spring morning in the Quarter.

  7. Woosty’s still a Cat
    1, May 1, 2011 at 11:28 am
    I would love to meet this man……

    ======================================================

    Agree

    (I learned something very important at the age of 10 years which has served me well all my life … not wanting to belong is the quickest way to gain acceptance (belong) … works every time in every situation.)

  8. OS,

    Maybe, maybe. But I know one thing for sure. I really want an apple fritter.

  9. BIL, I don’t think you can use Ricci flow to squeeze the hole out of a donut. In the theorem, cutting ain’t allowed. Just lassos and squeezing. I identify better with a donut. It is easier to eat a donut than a basketball. Tastes better too.

  10. Buddha….a friend of yours suggested that I should change gravtars again… what is the choice….

  11. Do Not click on the link above if you are hungry in the least…..

  13. OS,

    As a sphere can be a derivative of a donut in the form of the donut hole? I say let the war of the pastries begin! My money is on the topology of the apple fritter winning the day.

  14. If you are basically a donut, maybe it is nearly impossible to understand that other species, the sphere. Maybe we should invade the different other.

  15. Gingerbaker: the equivalent question for 5-dimensional manifolds was solved in the 60s.

  17. One must live by Principles and Virtues to stay away from the principal and teachers. But alas, are we not all teachers and students in the same breath?

  18. Obama will take it! Just like he took the Peace Prize which he did not deserve. yes, the Peace Laureate is busy dropping freedom clusters and liberty shells all over the world today as we read about Mr. Perelman.

    We need more people like Mr. Perelman and the phony race to the top proposed by the Educator in Chief will not produce any just more pliant cogs.

  19. Yawn.

    When he has something interesting to say about a closed 5-dimensional manifold, have his secretary call my secretary.

  20. Sir,

    With all due respect….Knowledge and SELF RESPECT is much more valuable than any amount of money…..

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