Russian recluse mathematician awarded Millennium Prize

US-based Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) has awarded Grigory Perelman its Millennium Prize for resolution of the Poincaré conjecture, one of the seven most difficult math problems chosen by the institute in 2000.The Poincaré conjecture was formulated in 1904 by the French mathematician Henri Poincaré. It deals with a topological problem of telling a multidimensional counterpart of a sphere via a set of measurements and other operations. Poincaré suggested such a test, but it took almost a century to prove that it always worked. Perelman published the correct solution in three papers in 2002 and 2003.Interestingly, earlier Grigory Perelman has refused the Fields Medal, the highest award for a mathematician. He was offered the honour in 2006 for the same solution, but turned it down, saying that public recognition of the correctness of his work was enough for him. Perelman, who lives in St Petersburg, is very reclusive and has been avoiding attention to his person as much a possible.  RT