Man solves 100 year old maths problem but turns down $1m reward
A poor Russian genius, who could be the world’s cleverest man, says he does not need the $1 million prize for solving one of the hardest problems in mathematics.
Dr Grigori Perelman prefers to live as a recluse in his grim cockroach-infested flat in St Petersburg, the Mail Online reports.
Told about the financial prize for solving the Poincare Conjecture which had confounded mathematicians for a century, he said through his closed front door: “I don’t need anything. I have all I want.”
The bearded genius, aged 44, was named last week as winner of the $1 million prize by the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Four years ago, after posting his solution on the web, he failed to turn up to receive his prestigious Fields Medal from the International Mathematical Union in Madrid.