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DancingBarry
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Joined: 07 Sep 2001
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Location: O.C.
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 Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 11:46 pm Post subject: Genius snubs math prize |
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| Quote: | MADRID, Spain - A reclusive Russian won the math world's highest honor Tuesday for solving a problem that has stumped some of the discipline's greatest minds for a century — but he refused the award.
Grigory Perelman, a 40-year-old native of St. Petersburg, won a Fields Medal — often described as math's equivalent of the Nobel prize — for a breakthrough in the study of shapes that experts say might help scientists figure out the shape of the universe.
John Ball, president of the International Mathematical Union, said that he had urged Perelman to accept the medal, but Perelman said he felt isolated from the mathematics community and "does not want to be seen as its figurehead." Ball offered no further details of the conversation.
Besides shunning the award for his work in topology, Perelman also seems uninterested, according to colleagues, in a separate $1 million prize he could win for proving the Poincare conjecture, a theorem about the nature of multidimensional space.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060822/ap_on_re_eu/spain_math_genius |
I think his "genius" label should be revoked if he turns down the $1 million.
His picture also reminds me of the SNL skit "The Falconer".
Falconer: "Ohhhh, Donald! I do not want to be seen as Math's figurehead. You accept the prize on my behalf. Do something noble with the $1 million!"
Donald: "Scrreeeeeech!"
[Cut to scenes of Donald the falcon receiving the prize and $1 million in cash. He then goes on a three-day binge in Vegas with transvestite hookers, coke and high stakes gambling. He returns broke to the Falconer who is still in the mountains eating bark and grub worms.]
Falconer: "Thank you once again, Donald. Someday, a calamity will befall me that even you won't be able to save me from!"
Donald: "Screeeeeeech!"
Falconer: "But, until that day, you will be the falcon.. and I shall remain...
...the Falconer." |
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PLATNUM
Star Player
Joined: 17 Dec 2002
Posts: 7191
Location: L.A.
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:11 am Post subject: |
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| dude apparently never met a pair of tweezers he liked. |
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Socks
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Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 10761
Location: Bay Area, CA
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:16 am Post subject: |
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There's an add for a CNN show about Osama on the right side of that story. Osama and the math dude look like long lost twin brothers.
Hence, using my mathematical skills, by transitive property, Osama and the Falconer are long lost twin brothers. Hmmm, gives the Falconer skits a whole new meaning... |
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ToughKarl
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 1101
Location: Orange County
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:27 am Post subject: |
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Genius?   |
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TACH
Retired Number
Joined: 03 Nov 2005
Posts: 28461
Location: Chillin on the Delaware.. from the Jersey Side
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 5:45 am Post subject: |
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| ToughKarl wrote: | | Genius? |
Nerd!  |
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prisma8slg
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Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 4664
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 7:14 am Post subject: |
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| Socks wrote: | There's an add for a CNN show about Osama on the right side of that story. Osama and the math dude look like long lost twin brothers.
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I thought the same thing 
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LaLakers999
Star Player
Joined: 10 May 2006
Posts: 1103
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:18 am Post subject: |
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talk about being humble....
I would take that medal and million dollars in a heartbeat and have a wild weekend |
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pokoy
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Joined: 12 Apr 2001
Posts: 14545
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:20 am Post subject: Re: Genius snubs math prize |
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| DancingBarry wrote: |
I think his "genius" label should be revoked if he turns down the $1 million.
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True. |
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LakerLanny
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Joined: 24 Oct 2001
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 8:49 am Post subject: |
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The numbers just don't add up on this story! 
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NoMoreGame7s
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Joined: 12 Apr 2001
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Location: Phoenix, AZ
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 11:29 am Post subject: |
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That theory that carries the million dollar prize has to do with donuts. Maybe Shaq can supplement his income by helping out.
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NestT
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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The "genius" lives with his mother in St. Petersburg and if he wins the Clay million dollar prize he would need to "talk with the Clay Institute" about accepting the money.
I think idiot savant is a more apt description.
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Free_Kobe
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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I think that is Matisyahu!
-Like a King without a Crown, Yes I wanna get down!
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angel
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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He doesn't seem to understand the math! One million buys a lot of Starbucks.
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Booby
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| Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2006 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| He felt isolated from the mathematical community, didnt want to suddenly become their poster boy. He rejected the medal, not the money, not yet anyway. |
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Polish_Bastard
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Joined: 20 Jun 2006
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Location: India baby!
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:43 am Post subject: |
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Don't diss a guy who's smarter then all of us put together...
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DancingBarry
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Joined: 07 Sep 2001
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:56 am Post subject: |
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No doubt he could smoke anyone here when it comes to mathematics and Falcons...
But one has to wonder about the "genius" in turning down the possibility of $1 million. If you don't want the cash, donate it to build 100 orphanges in Africa or India or something. |
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JerryMagicKobe
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Joined: 28 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:31 am Post subject: |
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I have decided to change my name to Grigory Perelman, move to St. Petersburg, Russia, and will proudly accept the medal and the title of "figurehead of the math community". Just for the record, the Universe is in the shape of Charles Barkley - a rounded, amorphous, ever expanding ball of gas, whose size has no limits, whose shape has no boundries, and will eventually consume and absorb all that it encounters.
Now give me my Mil.
As a demonstration of my genius, I have gone back in time to make this post (look at the time stamps for my post and the previous one)  |
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LakersSpirit
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| Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:58 pm Post subject: |
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I wrote a psychological paper, on gifted people. In my research, I learned that those with a genius mind, are often as different, from those of a normal I.Q., as "chalk to cheese". A good journal to research, is the "Roeper Review", which deals, mainly, with the education of gifted children. Those of the genius mind, may see the world, in a totally different way.
I also learned, that those of genius, often exhibit extreme sensitivity, to social, moral, and ethical issues. If they feel, that their moral, or ethical beliefs are being attacked, some gifted people may react like the infamous "Unabomber". I don't want to villify, or demonize, those of genius. There are some very complicated issues, related to healthy emotional/social development[as with all of us], which ultimately determine a person's behavior. With those of genius, there are special needs to be aware of.
I put this down, just to try and illuminate, the way this math genius's mind may be operating. There was another math genius, by the name of Ramanujan, from India, who said something about "...wherever a math equation exists,...there is God", or words to that effect.
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