Read the text about a famous Russian scientist and choose all true statements from the list below. More than one correct answer is possible.
Grigori Perelman
Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman is a Russian mathematician who solved the Poincaré conjecture, one of the most important unsolved problems in mathematics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006 for his work, but he declined to accept it.
Perelman was born in Leningrad, Russia, in 1966. He showed an early interest in mathematics, and he entered Leningrad State University at the age of 16. He graduated in 1982, and he then worked as a researcher at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics in Moscow.
In 1994, Perelman began working on the Poincaré conjecture. The conjecture had been unsolved for over 100 years, and it was considered to be one of the most difficult problems in mathematics. Perelman worked on the problem for several years, and he finally solved it in 2002.
Perelman's solution to the Poincaré conjecture was published in 2006. It was a highly technical paper, and it took many mathematicians several months to understand it. However, once it was understood, it was universally recognized as a brilliant piece of work.
Perelman was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006 for his work on the Poincaré conjecture. However, he declined to accept the award. He said that he did not want to be part of the "maths establishment", and he felt that the Fields Medal was not a true measure of his work.
Perelman has continued to work in mathematics, but he has done so in relative obscurity. He has refused to give interviews, and he has declined to accept any honours for his work. He is a brilliant mathematician, but he is also a very private person.
Tick the correct answers.
- Perelman is a Russian physicist
- Perelman is best known for his work on the Poincaré conjecture
- Perelman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006
- Perelman declined a medal for his discovery in mathematics
- Perelman was working on the Riemann hypothesis for three years