A Russian awarded $1million (195 million HUF) for solving one of the most intractable problems in mathematics said yesterday that he does not want the money. Said to be the world’s cleverest man, Dr Grigory Perelman, 44, lives as a recluse in a bare cockroach-infested flat in St Petersburg. He said through the closed door: ‘I have all I want.’
The prize was given by the U.S. Clay Mathematics Institute for solving the Poincare Conjecture, which baffled mathematicians for a century. Dr Perelman posted his solution on the internet.
He failed to turn up to receive his prestigious Fields Medal from the International Mathematical Union in Madrid four years ago. At the time he stated: “I’m not interested in money or fame. I don’t want to be on display like an animal in a zoo. I’m not a hero of mathematics. I’m not even that successful, that is why I don’t want to have everybody looking at me.”
Neighbour Vera Petrovna said: “I was once in his flat and I was astounded. 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. We are trying to get rid of cockroaches in our block, but they hide in his flat.”
It was in 2003 that Perelman, then a researcher at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in St. Petersburg, began posting papers online suggesting he had solved the Poincare Conjecture, one of seven major mathematical puzzles for which the Clay Institute is offering $1 million each. Rigorous tests proved he was correct.
The topological conundrum essentially states that any three-dimensional space without holes in it is equivalent to a stretched sphere.
The puzzle was more than 100 years old when Perelman solved it – and could help determine the shape of the universe. After 2003 Perelman gave up his job at the Steklov Institute. Friends have been reported as saying he has resigned from mathematics altogether – finding the subject too painful to discuss.
Daily Mail
Vocabulary
intractable – megoldhatatlan
recluse – remete
cockroach-infested – csótányoktól hemzsegő
Pointcare Conjucture – Pointcaré-sejtés (bővebben az oldal alján)
mattress – matrac
topological conundrum – topológiai rejtvény
stretched sphere – kinyújtott/kifeszített gömb
A Pointcaré-sejtés:
A Poincaré-sejtés a topológiának és a tárgyak olyan geometriai tulajdonságának központi kérdése, amelyek nem változnak nyújtás, zsugorítás, vagy torzulás hatására. Poincaré szerint a kétdimenziós tér egyenletei átalakíthatók a háromdimenziós térhez is. Más megfogalmazásban: bizonyos egyenletek a kétdimenziós térre vonatkozóan is átalakíthatók-e úgy, hogy érvényesek legyenek a háromdimenziós térre is.
A zárt kétdimenziós felületeken minden hurok ponttá húzható össze. A Poincaré-sejtés feltételezi, hogy lehetséges ez háromdimenzió esetén is. (forrás: Wikipedia)
Mostanra az orosz matematikus, Grigorij Perelman igazolta ennek a sejtésnek a helyességét.
