A00360 - Richard Hamilton, Grigori Perelman and the Greatest Math Solution of the 21st Century

 Last week, the New York Times reported on the death of Richard Hamilton, a math genius whose work on the Ricci flow led to the solution of the Poincare conjecture



I have no idea how the Ricci flow works but I do have some familiarity with the seven Millennium Prize Problems in Mathematics


and that as of today, only one of the seven problems = the Poincare Conjecture -- has been solved. This is all great stuff, but what really fascinates me is that the man who solved the problem, Grigori Perelman, 



declined not only the One Million Dollar prize for his solution but also the prestigious Fields Medal


that was also based on his work on the Poincare Conjecture solution.

Having read about the Fields Medal in John Nash's biography A Beautiful Mind



and more recently with the award of the Fields Medal to the Iranian prodigy Maryam  Mirzakhani



I have come to the conclusion that understanding mathematicians can be as daunting as understanding the mathematics that seems to beguile them.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
December 11, 2024

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A00245 - Must See TV for the Month of March 2024: PBS: "Dante" and Book of the Year for 2024: Dante's "The Divine Comedy": The Inferno

  By some "divine" coincidence, the following was the quote from the Monday, March 18, 2024, page of "A Year of Zen" calendar; "The mountain of release is such that the      ascent's most painful at the start, below;     the more you rise, the milder it will be. "And when the slope feels gentle to the point that     climbing up sheer rock is effortless      as though you were gliding downstream in a boat, "then you will have arrived where this path ends." Dante ***** I do not know where this Dante quote comes from, but what I do know is that the Monday, March 18, 2024, episode of PBS's "Dante" covered the life of Dante through the year 1306 and covered Dante's Divine Comedy through The Inferno.  The program has been insightful and profound.   I highly recommend that everyone watch the program and ponder on Dante's motivation for writing this monumental work.  Both the watching and the pondering could pr...
Read more

A00143 - Hot off the press: Manhattan Beach apologizes!

Image
I received an email a few moments ago from my Amherst College classmate, Peter Alfvin, who is a resident of Manhattan Beach ... and who has been keeping me informed of the City discussions concerning the return of the Bruce Beach property to my Bruce Family relatives and the compensation paid along with the protracted process of the Bruce Family receiving an apology for what was done to the family one hundred years ago.  Peter's email title says it all and the attached newspaper article says it all.   At long last, the City of Manhattan Beach has apologized to the Bruce Family.  Now, finally, ... maybe ... the reconciliation can begin. Peter, lunch is on me when next I come down your way.  We have much to talk about my friend. Peace, Everett "Skip" Jenkins  Barcelona, Spain April 5, 2023 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Manhattan Beach Off...
Read more

A00244 - Fatima Bernawi, The First Female Palestinian Resistance Organizer

  March is Women's History Month Women's History Month - Wikipedia and on March 11, Ramadan began Ramadan (calendar month) - Wikipedia Ramadan was the time when it was hoped that the Israel-Hamas War would be paused for humanitarian reasons  Israel–Hamas war - Wikipedia but it was not.  In a previous email (see below), I discuss the legacy of the 1948 Deir Yassin Massacre which gave rise to the Nakba. Sadly, the 75th-year anniversary of the Nakba has predictably proven to be woefully tragic. As a student of history, I sense that the result of this latest episode of the Nakba will not bring peace but will produce a generation of young Palestinians who are committed to resist. One example of such historical resistance fighters created by the Nakba was Fatima Bernawi    Fatima Bernawi - Wikipedia I encourage everyone to become aware of her story.  I found it intriguing not just because she was the first Palestinian woman to organize a resistance attack in Isra...
Read more