But some, like Grigori Perelman, prefer to avoid the fame that comes with significant breakthroughs.
Grigori Perelman was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union, (now Saint Petersburg, Russia).
The conjectures Perelman tackled had long been open problems in mathematics.
Photo: George Bergman viaWikimedia Commons(CC BY-SA 4.0)
This is the level of justification that mathematicians require before accepting a new piece of mathematical knowledge as fact.
In 1994, Perelman proved thesoul conjecture.
Perelman proved that smaller structures that mimic the actual shapefor example, curvescan be found within the overall object.
More impressively, he did so in a short scientific article.
Coming to a resolution took him nearly seven years of work in isolation.
After these achievements, Perelman stepped away from academia, disillusioned by the ethical standards in the field.
Now, he lives in seclusion in Saint Petersburg, where he takes care of his ailing mother.
Either way, his findings represent watershed moments that continue to illuminate contemporary mathematicians.
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