Perelman turns down Fields Medal

[by j.d.]

Grigory Perelman, who Rachel told you about as apparently having proved the Poincare conjecture, has turned down a Fields Medal (mathematics’ highest honor — there is no Nobel Prize for mathematics) when it was awarded on Tuesday.

A lot of people think he’ll also turn down the Clay Institute’s money as well. Clay offered $1 million each for the solutions to seven problems it felt were the “problems of the century”, one of which was Poincare’s problem.