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The other day I read this article about Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician who declined to accept any medal or prize related to him solving the Poincaré co
by TrackerFF 9mo ago
The other day I read this article about Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician who declined to accept any medal or prize related to him solving the Poincaré conjecture. He declined the fields medals and millennium prize on the basis that he didn't view himself as a hero, and thought such awards were irrelevant.
And then you have Trump, on the complete other side of that spectrum.
- ivan_gammel 9mo agoThere already exists a meme, where Perelman presents his Fields medal to Trump.
- HarHarVeryFunny 9mo agoWell, Trump scored bigly on his senility test, and was even able to distinguish a giraffe from an elephant, as he bragged about, so it seems pretty clear he's a high IQ individual.
- ptero 9mo agoPerelman is a strange character; IIRC he declined several times first without bothering to give a reason. Then, after being asked enough times, came up with a "I am not a hero and such awards are irrelevant" as a somewhat acceptable version so those pesky folks would leave him alone. Thus I would not use him as an example of the right way to deal with a prestigious award. That said, the Nobel medal to Trump circus is beyond ridiculous.
- tasuki 9mo agoAlso this: > I'm not interested in money or fame, I don't want to be on display like an animal in a zoo. Seems like a smart approach.
- PlanksVariable 9mo agoOften in life the extreme ends of a spectrum are not “good” and “bad” but varying degrees of suboptimal.
- kzrdude 9mo agoFrom what Perelman said, he just seemed deeply depressed and disillusioned. Not sure it had much more meaning than that.