Perelman comes out of his seclusion for the first time to tell the press why he has turned down million dollar offers. Working on research that is “too important” for other things, he has calculated the speed at which Jesus walked on water.

Moscow (AsiaNews) – Certain that he holds the keys to “how the universe works” and involved in “matters that are too important” for other things, Grigori "Grisha" Perelman has turned out million dollar prizes, choosing instead the life of a hermit on the edge of indigence. For the first time, the Russian math genius tells the press why he has refused to accept many (lucrative) offers, opting instead for a reclusive life in a Saint Petersburg suburb.

Famous worldwide for solving the Poincare conjecture (a theorem formulated by French mathematician in 1904), Perelman told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper that he is currently involved in research whose applications range from the “space industry and nanotechnologies to social sciences and fundamental questions about the nature of the universe”.

One of the “difficult problems” he has had to deal with was the speed with which Jesus walked on water, the mathematician said. “He walked like on dry land, so I had to calculate the speed he needed to move in order not to sink.”

“I learnt how to calculate voids,” said Perelman whose studies have both practical and philosophical applications. Equally, we now “know the mechanisms for filling in the social and economic voids”.

“Emptiness is everywhere and it can be calculated, which gives us a great opportunity,” he explained. “I know how to control the universe. So tell me, why should I run for a million?” he said.

Last year, the scientist turned down a million dollar prize offered by the Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI) of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the latest in a series of ‘Nyet’ he has given.

The best known refusal came in 2006 when, in Madrid, he refused to accept the Fields Medal, the Nobel of mathematics, which he won by solving the Poincaré conjecture, a theorem about the characterization of a three-dimensional sphere (3-sphere), as it changes, a solution that opens new possibilities for the study of the universe and its various forms.

Perelman posted his research online in 2002, becoming a legend among mathematicians, one that remains elusive to most people though.

Now some claim he might be in danger. A man who can explain the universe, with a brain worth a million dollars, can become the target of industrial giants and secret services, said Komsomolskaya Pravda, a paper known for its conspiracy theories. (N.A.)

• russia
• saint
• petersburg
• grigori
• perelman
• mathematics
• poincaré
• conjecture
• komsomolskaya
• pravda