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Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century (Hardback)
$22.01 - Save $3.99 (15%) - RRP $26.00 Free delivery worldwide (to United States and
all these other countries) Usually dispatched within 48 hours | |Short Description for Perfect RigorIn 2006, eccentric Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman solved one of the world's greatest intellectual puzzles. For this feat, Perelman will be awarded a prize of one million dollars, and he will likely decline it. Gessen investigates his gripping yet tragic story of genius.
Full description- Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
- Published: 01 November 2009
- Format: Hardback 242 pages
- See: Full bibliographic data
- Categories: Biography: Science, Technology & Engineering | Autobiography: Science, Technology & Engineering | Mathematics | History Of Engineering & Technology
- ISBN 13: 9780151014064 ISBN 10: 015101406X
- Sales rank: 156,287
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Full description for Perfect Rigor
A gripping and tragic tale that sheds rare light on the unique burden of genius In 2006, an eccentric Russian mathematician named Grigori Perelman solved the Poincare Conjecture, an extremely complex topological problem that had eluded the best minds for over a century. A prize of one million dollars was offered to anyone who could unravel it, but Perelman declined the winnings, and in doing so inspired journalist Masha Gessen to tell his story. Drawing on interviews with Perelman's teachers, classmates, coaches, teammates, and colleagues in Russia and the United States--and informed by her own background as a math whiz raised in Russia--Gessen uncovered a mind of unrivaled computational power, one that enabled Perelman to pursue mathematical concepts to their logical (sometimes distant) end. But she also discovered that this very strength turned out to be Perelman's undoing and the reason for his withdrawal, first from the world of mathematics and then, increasingly, from the world in general.
