Mr. Russian Smarty Pants rejects $1 million dollar prize.

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http://www.claymath.org/poincare/

Dr Grigori Perelman, a reclusive Russian genius, is refusing to accept the prestigious $1 million \"Millennium\" mathematics prize awarded by the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, MA.

Perelman was awarded the prize for solving the one-hundred-year-old Poincaré conjecture, one of the most complicated mathematical problems in the world - so complex, in fact, that after Perelman posted his proofs in 2002 it took several years for other experts to confirm he was correct.

Now Perelman's refusal to accept the prize - the second prestigious prize he has refused - has led some to examine his unorthodox life and dub him \"Mathsputin.\" (hihihi sounds quite funny in spanish)

The 44-year-old Perelman currently resides with his mother and sister in his hometown of St. Petersberg, living extremely humbly. One neighbor told a Moscow newspaper, \\"He always wears the same tatty coat and trousers. He never cuts his nails or beard. When he walks he simply stares at the ground, rather than looking from side to side.\\"


\"You are disturbing me. I am picking mushrooms,\" he told a journalist who managed to get in touch with him.

Now THAT is quite an attitude...
 
The money has already been promised to a charity, but one of the conditions to 'win' the prize hasn't been met (it's got to be written in a journal or something like that) which he is not likely to do at any point in the near future.

Despite the fact that there's a Russian charity not getting it's $1 000 000, it makes me a little happy that people like this still exist. Eccentric intellectuals. I thought that they had been consigned to fiction.

It reminds me a little of the documentary Encounters at the End of the World, which is about the people who live and work in Antarctica. Well the world's foremost expert on penguins lives about a hundred feet from one of the largest colonies in all of Antarctica, and has basically been there alone for six years. He publishes research and papers via satellite, but when the documentary crew went to ask him questions, it's like he had forgotten how to be a human, or how to talk to people at all.
 
The money has already been promised to a charity, but one of the conditions to 'win' the prize hasn't been met (it's got to be written in a journal or something like that) which he is not likely to do at any point in the near future.

Despite the fact that there's a Russian charity not getting it's $1 000 000, it makes me a little happy that people like this still exist. Eccentric intellectuals. I thought that they had been consigned to fiction.

It reminds me a little of the documentary Encounters at the End of the World, which is about the people who live and work in Antarctica. Well the world's foremost expert on penguins lives about a hundred feet from one of the largest colonies in all of Antarctica, and has basically been there alone for six years. He publishes research and papers via satellite, but when the documentary crew went to ask him questions, it's like he had forgotten how to be a human, or how to talk to people at all.
Then calling them genuises isn't entirely accurate. Savant is a word that fits better.
 
Often such brilliance comes with a trade-off. They're mentioned as eccentric, or even anti-social. That tells me that they've used their brilliance to hone their talents rather than learning the many complexities of social graces, communication, people skills, and politics. They've achieved a prodigious degree of proficiency in their respective field to the exclusion of any other subject. So describing them as "savants" rather than "genuises" seems fitting, at least to my perspective.

Barring anything else I've said, describing them as savants is a matter of personal preference.

Then calling them genuises isn't entirely accurate. Savant is a word that fits better.
Ah yes, internet Armchair Dr. Expert's opinion.[/QUOTE]

I'm not always correct in my estimations and I'll try my best to listen to others - even if I don't like what I'm hearing, but I respectfully request that you at least allow me a chance to explain myself before you judge me in such an insolent manner.
 
K

Kitty Sinatra

Even though you have described these people accurately, I believe you don't understand what the word savant means: "a person of profound or extensive learning; learned scholar."
 
Savant syndrome only applies when it's a person who is normally incapable of even simple tasks displays prodigious and genius level ability on a certain subject. Like that young man who can play any song he's ever heard, then play it in any style - but cannot converse or even dress or clean himself.

These individuals are apparently functional (the penguin expert is debatable - isolation can often provoke mental instability. While he probably was functional, prolonged isolated may have damaged him) and have unparalleled expertise. While the mathematician might have some problems I wouldn't call him a savant.
 
A

Andromache

I'm not always correct in my estimations and I'll try my best to listen to others - even if I don't like what I'm hearing, but I respectfully request that you at least allow me a chance to explain myself before you judge me in such an insolent manner.
Hie thee to a picture shooting establishment and reproduce that with robe, overstuffed chair, crackling fireplace, monocle, cigar, and brandy.
 
I'm not always correct in my estimations and I'll try my best to listen to others - even if I don't like what I'm hearing, but I respectfully request that you at least allow me a chance to explain myself before you judge me in such an insolent manner.
Hie thee to a picture shooting establishment and reproduce that with robe, overstuffed chair, crackling fireplace, monocle, cigar, and brandy.[/QUOTE]

How dare you mock me!
 
A

Andromache

well, it'sreally not that hard. I mean, after mocking ( and by mocking I mean boinking) your mom...
 
Honestly, the man is probably autistic in some way (having an asperger's son makes that seem pretty apparent to me), but who cares?
 
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