
$1 Million Question - Will Math Expert Accept Prize? - peter123
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/science/21award.html
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hristov
All they have to do is denounce those people that tried to steal Perelman's
proof and claim it as partially their own.

Obviously he has a very strict standards for honesty, and will not accept
anything from the mathematics community, unless he perceives them as honest.

I think mathematicians do not think they need to do anything because they
think it is very clear by now who solved the Poincare conjecture and who did
not, and there is no need to embarrass a very influential mathematician over
the whole deal. But Perelman does not see it this way, and wants to be
vindicated explicitly.

~~~
almost
Go on...?

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hristov
This explains the whole story:

[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/28/060828fa_fact2?c...](http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/28/060828fa_fact2?currentPage=all)

Note that this has been strongly disputed by certain parties mentioned in the
article that do not come off that well, but the New Yorker stands by the
reporting and has not issued corrections.

~~~
CoreDumpling
_Perelman, by casually posting a proof on the Internet of one of the most
famous problems in mathematics, was not just flouting academic convention but
taking a considerable risk. If the proof was flawed, he would be publicly
humiliated, and there would be no way to prevent another mathematician from
fixing any errors and claiming victory._

This is both frightening and disappointing. I can hardly imagine how much
advancement in the field is being held back by this attitude.

~~~
daniel-cussen
They think of this math as the math they saw in high school, which is focused
on accuracy. No such thing is true. At this level, mathematics is about
insights and creativity. It's like writing a novel, posting it on the
internet, and having someone else fix the typos and claim it as their own.

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petercooper
There was an interesting BBC radio show that looked at this chap's
achievements and 2006 win:
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_2006082...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/thematerialworld_20060824.shtml)
(it's still listenable but is RealAudio, though VLC played it fine for me - I
also just tested it through a US-based VPN and seemed to be OK unlike a lot of
BBC content.)

I also recall seeing a Marcus du Sautoy documentary where he went to Russia to
try and meet Grigori (without much success as I recall). I can't find a
watchable version of that, though.

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jgrahamc
That du Sautoy documentary was lame and the bit where he goes to Russia was
cringe worthy. du Sautoy must have known that Perelman would never see him. If
Perelman turned down the Fields then appearing on TV was hardly going to
excite him.

Ultimately that entire series was about du Sautoy going 'look at me, I'm
clever'

~~~
ig1
Slightly off-topic but does anyone remember the name of that online maths
teaching startup du Sautoy was involved with ?

~~~
Luc
<http://www.mangahigh.com/en_gb/about/>

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Towle_
Uh...math "expert"? Let's try a different word, NYT.

~~~
scott_s
What is wrong with the word? He clearly is an expert in math. Is your
objection that it's redundant?

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alexgartrell
I think he was looking for "mathematician".

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CamperBob
Is there some reason to assume that all mathematicians are experts?

~~~
alextgordon
At least in the context of the headline, you can assume any mathematician
being offered a $1m prize is likely to be an expert.

In wider usage, I guess you could say "Math expert" to distinguish between
students and professionals, but it's still as clear as mud because it doesn't
state which field of mathematics the person is an expert in.

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jpwagner
for those interested...

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_of_the_Poincaré_conjec...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_of_the_Poincaré_conjecture)

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judegomila
<http://www.ljplus.ru/img/e/l/ellustrator/puankare3w.jpg>

==> take the millions and shove it up your asses.....

