The scientists wanted to be awarded the 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 Internet site of the Los Alamos Laboratory of Sciences was enriched by the solution of the problem carried out by Gregory. When he refused the prize, the International Congress on 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 the unwillingness to receive an award from Perelman, especially since there was no official data regarding the award at that moment.
Award Nomination
When the winners were finally announced, and among them was the mathematician Grigory Perelman, along with Andrei Okunov, who at that time was working in the United States. The recluse was not found among the scientists who came to the congress. They did not even receive a response from him to a letter informing him of the award. The guests of the conference were perplexed, as were the organizers. As it turned out later, the scientist announced his unwillingness to receive money a few months before the meeting itself.
What kind of person is this
As much as he disliked the attention of the general public before the nomination, so did he after the honors. 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 a gold medal at school and graduated from an educational institution. Already there he began to study in depth the work of his life. 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 entered Leningrad State University at the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics.
Career
In St. Petersburg, he defended his dissertation, graduating from the State University. The first place of work was the Institute of Mathematics. Steklov. The end of the eighties brought him a change of residence to the United States. American universities accepted him within their walls as a teacher. Then he returned to his homeland and again worked at the Steklov Institute. All his thoughts were occupied by the Poincaré hypothesis.
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 didn't show up for the awards ceremony either.
Waited for him to the last
The congress was held in Spain. Many ingeniousmathematicians came to the capital. Perelman was supposed to arrive there too. The Nobel Prize dutifully 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 a scientist.
Members of the conference 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 fantastic.
Grigory did not publish the proof of the theorem, which was so interested in the scientific world. Specialized publications expected materials from him, but did not receive them. It is hard to overestimate his contribution to science to those who understand why Perelman received the Nobel Prize. The brilliant discovery was followed by dismissal, which surprised the Mathematical Institute. Steklova.
What happened to him next
Perelman rushed to seclusion. The Nobel Prize and the money that comes with it has never been an end in itself for a scientist. He never made it to Spain to collect his Fields medal, leaving many wondering why he did so strangely.
Why did Perelman refuse the Nobel Prize? After all, colleagues in science, all scientists of that time were ready to give him a standing ovation. Before him, many scientists puzzled over the solution of the Poincaré theorem, on which he finally shed light. The discovery facilitated the work of more than one mathematician. Back in 1904, the world got acquainted with the Poincaré hypothesis, which led him into thoughtfulness for a century. There were many variants of proof, but noneone failed to be true, while the scientist got to the bottom of the truth and provided the scientific world with a reliable explanation.
Perelman did not leave the thoughts of people. The Nobel Prize was rejected by him, so you need to at least understand the reason. The American magazine The New Yorker, in the person of its correspondents, interrupted Grigory'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 for personal reasons.
Mathematician has long been a real mystery to the media. What could be so important and weighty as to turn away the desire to get a million dollars and go to Madrid?
Protest called his actions Perelman. 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 a monetary reward, many are ready to deceive, to become charlatans. Then thinking people will be concerned not with the result, but with money, and they will direct their mental potential to cunning, and not to discoveries.
Better poor, but by 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 norm 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 could notget to Spain due to lack of funds for the road.
The most prestigious mathematical prize was established in 1936. Perelman became the first to reject honors during this time. Unless Pasternak refused the Nobel Prize for political reasons. Fields medal can be obtained by a researcher who is under 40 years old. That is, in the future, this award will no longer shine for Gregory. He missed his only chance. His contribution to science can rightfully be called invaluable. Thanks to this, the development of mathematics has taken one significant step forward. Many modern studies did not get 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 the past. We've all noticed that geniuses do have their oddities.
