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Bravo GP! You are the true beckon of decency in an otherwise commercially prostituted and politically dominated scientific community.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/science/22cnd-math.html?ex=1157169600&en=0199970a574eba54&ei=5070

2006-08-31 07:15:38 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics Mathematics

With all due respect Mr. cchappa (you being you, of course) let's see how many of you/us will actually decline a million dollars in prize money, not to mention tenure positions at the most prestigious universities of the world, when it "actually" comes down to it! TALK is cheap, but a whole different ball game when it is in point of fact YOU (again with all due respect to your well-mannered and silly-resistant character) who is offered the choice. Perelman, an unpretentious and obscure (a word uttered by us self-absorbed and arrogant Westerners as though it were a criminal trait) Russian mathematician was ACTUALLY offered the Field Medal, the US$1 M and the jobs too and yet he turned them all down on the basis of personal principles. I'll be looking to see what You’ll be doing when it's actually your turn Mr. cchappa!!!

2006-08-31 08:58:23 · update #1

7 answers

no, and ive never heard of him

2006-08-31 07:22:19 · answer #1 · answered by angela k 1 · 0 0

Is Grigory Perelman the most brilliant, conscientious, and ethically authentic mathematician alive?

Bravo GP! You are the true beckon of decency in an otherwise commercially prostituted and politically dominated scientific community.


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No, no, and no.

He is brilliant, but to claim to be the most brilliant for solving one unsolved (albeit extremely difficult) problem is not enough. Lots of previously unsolved problems have been solved by obscure and unknown means. But because this one had a million dollar price tag, it gives the impression of him being most brilliant.

He is conscientious. But one's level on conscientousness is not merely determined by the non-acceptance of a cash prize. I'm sure that there are othjer just as equally, if not more so, conscientous mathematicians out there you aren't century-old-problem solvers.

Ethically authentic? Now you're just fusing together adverbs and adjectives to aggrandize Mr. Perelman. I consider myself ethical and authentic. I have ethics and I really am me.


And seriously, you think math is that commercialized? And politically dominated?



Silly person.

2006-08-31 07:37:13 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

He's unique, but he still has a ways to go to be in the same class with Paul Erdös.


Doug

2006-08-31 07:31:49 · answer #3 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 0 0

What about accepting the money and doing something good with it? What if he is actually schizophrenic? Is his action still laudable if he does it b/c he's loopy?

2006-08-31 07:30:24 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Did you read the article about him in the New Yorker this week?

2006-08-31 07:20:00 · answer #5 · answered by krisser22 2 · 0 0

He certainly is unique!

2006-08-31 07:21:18 · answer #6 · answered by Marc B 3 · 0 0

No. And thank you, I am.

2006-08-31 07:18:45 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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