Generally, when somebody turns down a major award like the Fields Medal for achievement in higher mathematics, and then turns down a $1 million prize, it’s usually because they’re excessively modest, or feel their work speaks for itself and that awards are unnecessary.
Not Grigory Perelman. No, in his case it’s because his ego is too big, and he also might be somewhat insane!
To be fair, Perelman has earned the ego. He works in Riemannian geometry and geometric topology. He also proved that any shape without a hole can be formed into a sphere. Sound simple? Yeah, it’s really, really not. So not that he became the toast of his field and was awarded the Millenium Prize, which is a million dollars. Yes, he turned it down. He explained it thus:
“I know how to control the universe. Tell me, why would I need to chase a million [dollars]?”
He’s not actually exaggerating, which is the scary thing: his work can help us form a better understanding of how the universe was formed and has incredible implications for physics. That said, dude does kind of need to get over himself. I mean, it’s not like he’s omniscient and can wish me into the cornfi
[ via the beautiful minds at Blastr ]