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2010-03-23 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

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Posted by tipper 2010-03-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 Wotta maroon.

Posted by gorb 2010-03-23 00:20|| 2010-03-23 00:20|| Front Page Top

#2 Read the story, gorb. It's actually very sad. Obviously he's developed some sort of mental problems.

Posted by PBMcL 2010-03-23 01:06|| 2010-03-23 01:06|| Front Page Top

#3 The story doesn't mention that his work was ripped off by Chinese, and they took all the credit for solving the Poincare Conjecture. He was really angry and bitter about it. His rejection of the award is the only way that he can have any sort of control over the situation.

Posted by gromky 2010-03-23 01:59|| 2010-03-23 01:59|| Front Page Top

#4 I did. Asperger's is probably part of the problem.

Posted by gorb 2010-03-23 02:01|| 2010-03-23 02:01|| Front Page Top

#5 Contrasting people who will do anything for fame and celebrity (see any "reality" show contestant), with those who would avoid such attention, I would suggest it is the former who have the "problem". This guy is just smart, shy, and principled. I respect him.

Posted by Scooter McGruder 2010-03-23 04:10|| 2010-03-23 04:10|| Front Page Top

#6 There is a serious Joe's Apartment-Kafka joke in there somewhere. Maybe just starting each morning with a big bowl of cockroaches and milk.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-03-23 09:34|| 2010-03-23 09:34|| Front Page Top

#7 Eccentricity comes in many forms as does genius , but occasionaly come with attachments like social anxiety disorder

S'cuse the pun , but 'sad' affair.

Posted by Oscar 2010-03-23 10:05|| 2010-03-23 10:05|| Front Page Top

#8 social anxiety disorder

Please Oscar, now you're getting personal!

Posted by Besoeker 2010-03-23 10:08|| 2010-03-23 10:08|| Front Page Top

#9 reminds me of the great Chess champions

Posted by 746 2010-03-23 10:08|| 2010-03-23 10:08|| Front Page Top

#10 He's an ascetic. His life is focused entirely on his pursuit of mathematics.

He understands that accepting the prize and the money will bring distractions and change his life no matter how he tries to avoid it. Even rejecting is is a major distraction.

He also appears to have made a realistic self-appraisal. It seems to me that he's quite sane.

Posted by KBK 2010-03-23 13:33|| 2010-03-23 13:33|| Front Page Top

#11 Your 401k tanked, didn't it? ;-)

Posted by gorb 2010-03-23 13:56|| 2010-03-23 13:56|| Front Page Top

#12 asceticism in Practice isnt really something The West is very familiar with not like in Asia

Posted by 746 2010-03-23 15:43|| 2010-03-23 15:43|| Front Page Top

#13 He's very likely sane. Like all Russians above a certain age he a) doesn't trust any authority, b) is terrified of financial swindles and violent crime, both of which are rampant in the new Russia, and c) owns an apartment which was assigned to him in the Soviet era, and he probably makes enough money from tutoring and some consulting to live in the style he's accustomed to.

Were he to accept the cash, he would quickly become a mark for neighborhood criminals, including those who wear the uniforms of the Moscow police. Not everyone is sophisticated enough to spirit money into Cypriot or Swiss bank accounts and keep it from being stolen.

Posted by lex 2010-03-23 16:36|| 2010-03-23 16:36|| Front Page Top

#14 The "Dumbbell Award" was given in Dallas every year at a charity event. Ross Perot won the award for waiting 30 days to cash his GMC check. This guy should at least be nominated.

Posted by whatadeal 2010-03-23 16:55|| 2010-03-23 16:55|| Front Page Top

#15 When it comes to mathematical eccentrics, Dr. Perelman is hardly the strangest. See Grothendieck, Erdős, Gödel, Bloch (who murdered his mother-in-law), Newton, and many others.

He's probably embarrassed by the attention.

I should know; I'm an ex-mathematician myself. I didn't publish enough.

Posted by Eric Jablow 2010-03-23 20:30|| 2010-03-23 20:30|| Front Page Top

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