The Mathematician Who Refused 1 Million Dollars

One of the greatest mathematicians of our time is Grigori Perelman.  Perelman solved one of the most difficult problems in mathematics that has puzzled mathematicians for a hundred years, the Poincaré Conjecture.

The Poincaré Conjecture was posted by Henri Poincaré in 1904. It was one of the seven Millenium Prize Problems, the most difficult mathematics problems selected by the Clay Mathematics Institute. A correct solution to any of the unsolved problems can earn the author 1 million dollars. As of this writing, the remaining six problems are still unsolved. » Read more

7 Extraordinary Mathematicians You Should Know About

There are numerous mathematicians who have made significant contributions in the field of mathematics. We cannot argue the mathematical greatness of Euclid, Newton, Gauss, Euler, and others who have set the foundation to the many branches of mathematics. In this post, we learn about 7 extraordinary mathematicians who are quite less known — less known in the sense that they are probably familiar to those who study mathematics and related fields.

1. Evariste Galois (1811-1832, France)
Evariste Galois was probably the most unfortunate mathematician who ever lived. He lived during the political turmoil in France. He failed the entrance examinations at Ecole Polytechnique twice because he could not explain his answers, was jailed for six months, and died in a duel at the age of 21.

Evariste Galois

Galois was  ahead of his time. In his teens, he was able to determine necessary and sufficient conditions for algebraic solutions of polynomials to exist. He barely attended college, but most of his contemporaries could not understand his work. He submitted research papers that were either lost or “incomprehensible.”  It was only 14 years after his death that the mathematics community was able to recognize the value of his work.

Despite his short life and his numerous misfortunes, his works gave a firm foundation to group theory. » Read more

Millenium Prize Problems: Problems Worth $1M Each

On May 24, 2000, the Clay Mathematics Institute established seven Prize Problems. These problems are called the Millenium Prize Problems.  A solution to each unsolved problem is worth $1 000 000 dollars. These problems are

  1. P versus NP
  2. Hodge conjecture
  3. Poincaré conjecture
  4. Riemann hypothesis
  5. Yang–Mills existence and mass gap
  6. Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness
  7. Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture

As of this writing (12 years later), six problems are still unsolved.  The Poincare Conjecture was solved by Grigori Perelman in 2006. Dr. Perelman was awarded the Millenium Prize in 2010, but he declined the award.