wow! what a great read. This article confirms the anti-semitism in USSR, which has been described by several others.
I am surprised there is no mention of Grigory Perelman[1] in the discussion here on HN. The genius mathematician who proved PoinCare Conjecture, a problem standing for 100 years. And then later on refused the million dollar prize which was to be awarded for the proof[2].
The reason, this article reminds of Perelman is that he also faced similar kind of discrimination, in the USSR. But it was more subtle in Perelman's case. And he was able to get what he wanted from the USSR system, in terms of going to the university he wanted.
Masha Gessen has written a biography on Perelman in her book 'Perfect Rigor'. The book also serves as a commentary on the Russian Math culture (which is very very impressive by the way) and their education system.
Now reading this article, I want to read Edward Frenkel's book as well.
Comments
wow! what a great read. This article confirms the anti-semitism in USSR, which has been described by several others.
I am surprised there is no mention of Grigory Perelman[1] in the discussion here on HN. The genius mathematician who proved PoinCare Conjecture, a problem standing for 100 years. And then later on refused the million dollar prize which was to be awarded for the proof[2].
The reason, this article reminds of Perelman is that he also faced similar kind of discrimination, in the USSR. But it was more subtle in Perelman's case. And he was able to get what he wanted from the USSR system, in terms of going to the university he wanted.
Masha Gessen has written a biography on Perelman in her book 'Perfect Rigor'. The book also serves as a commentary on the Russian Math culture (which is very very impressive by the way) and their education system.
Now reading this article, I want to read Edward Frenkel's book as well.
[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman
[2] - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/grigori-perelman-re...
Edit: typo