The famous mathematician turns 51 today.
GENIUS-SHUTTER
Grigory Perelman is perhaps the most "private" genius of our time. It was he who solved one of the seven problems of the millennium, proving Poincaré's theorem, and he also turned down the million dollar prize for his achievements. He gave only one interview and has avoided talking to the press ever since. But once a year, at the beginning of July, we wait for him near the house to congratulate him on his birthday and find out how things are.
“Sometimes you can see him here, always in the same one, with long hair and a beard, he used to walk with his mother, now he walks alone more and more often,” says Perelman’s neighbor at the entrance.
Socket in Kupchino. A nondescript light brown wooden door stands out strongly on the landing. All who have been to her say that there is poverty and disorder. The mathematician lives in a three-room apartment with his mother, Lyubov Leibovna. The woman is 88 years old, and no one has seen her on the street for a long time.
As usual, no one opened the door to our knocks. We are waiting at the front door. Grigory Perelman rarely leaves the house, but the locals know him. The scientist does not look at the market directly opposite the entrance, but he often visits the supermarket nearby.
- He is very economical and modest, always takes the simplest products: milk, loaf. He speaks politely, but generally not very sociable, - Olga Kolotygina, an employee of the store, told us.
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Last year, on the anniversary of Perelman, they came to congratulate him on the orchestra, he did not even appear out the window. According to neighbors, after that incident, he stayed at home for a week. This year, our anticipation has not yielded any results again. The reclusive genius never went outside. Maybe it's the bad weather, or maybe he saw the journalists out of the window.
DRAWING SCHEMES IN THE AIR
At the school where Grigory Perelman studied, everyone knows about him. Students are told in math lessons. And in the corridor there is a stand with clippings of newspaper articles about a former student. Only during the exams had to be removed.
“After us, he moved to a mathematical school, we don't even have any photographs of him,” says Evgenia Spiridonova, “and when he was invited to a school anniversary, he didn't come. Does not support contact with us.
Since then, the school staff has changed a lot. Director and class teacher Perelman retired, his mathematics teacher Sergei Moiseyev is no longer alive. But how the eighth-grader Grisha passed the final exams in the 8th grade is remembered by the mathematics teacher Lyubov Sakhno.
- It was 39 years ago. I then only worked at school for a year, I was an assistant at the exams in mathematics. He passed oral geometry just brilliantly! He could prove any theorem on the fly, drew diagrams in the air, - Lyubov Anatolyevna shared with the KP correspondent, - Of course, over the years there were many outstanding graduates, but Perelman is exactly a prodigy!
As the teachers said, Sergei Alekseevich treated everyone the same: no one knows mathematics! But there could be no complaints about Grisha Perelman. The certificate contains only "excellent".
WRITES A BOOK ABOUT HIMSELF AND MATHEMATICS
"Komsomolskaya Pravda" spoke with the class teacher Grigory Perelman. Valentina Berdova is one of the few with whom the mathematician still keeps in touch. It turned out that the genius decided to move from the exact sciences to literature.
- There is news: Grisha is writing a book about himself. He says that so many lies have been invented about him that it's time to dispel myths. Write an autobiography about your path in mathematics. I said that this was the right decision. For the people, he himself is like a living “Poincaré hypothesis” - and who else can tell the truth about himself,”says Valentina Berdova.
She said that on the eve of his birthday, Perelman receives many letters from fans. Does not answer paper. He doesn't even open them - he loves to communicate over the Internet more.
- We used to say that even there he liked some modest girl-seller. We hope that maybe he will start a family - it's time! I got the impression that Grisha is not averse to finding himself a life partner. Maybe he already found it. He avoids direct answers. But mutual acquaintances carry rumors that he seems to be friends with some woman, - says the teacher of the genius.
EKATERINA TOLMACHEVA