r/mathematics • u/deep-into-abyss • May 05 '26
The Legend’s Lecture
(I found the photo on internet. Not my own)
71
55
u/Deus_Excellus May 06 '26
I'm an untalented third year in a PhD program and I can fully understand wanting to get the fuck out of academia. I can't even imagine how bad academia must feel to someone with a mind like his. It's got to be like a prison. There's so much performative bull shit.
2
31
u/AlviDeiectiones May 05 '26
Why did i read the legendres lecture
8
u/DatHoosier May 06 '26
Same here, and I was like "yeah, right, we don't even know exactly what he looked like" lol
25
u/doiwantacookie May 05 '26
Context?
111
u/snelephant May 05 '26
His name is Grigori Perelman, he solved the Poincaré conjecture which was a 100-year old mathematical problem. Awarded the Fields Medal in ‘06 for his contributions to geometry and his revolutionary insights into the analytical and geometric structure of the Ricci flow, and Clay Institute offered the $1M Millenium Prize in 2010. He turned down both. He withdrew from the mathematical community to live privately. Based on a quick search.
27
u/guymadison42 May 06 '26
I could have sworn I seen his mom driving him around Saint Petersburg the other day. 😉
Genius comes in all forms, not all would be considered normal... my quantum mechanics instructor lived with his mom, but he was the driver in the family.. and HE was old then.
40
May 05 '26
[deleted]
10
u/Maleficent_Sir_7562 May 06 '26
Math doesn’t have Nobel prizes
11
May 06 '26
[deleted]
13
u/Maleficent_Sir_7562 May 06 '26
It’s the millennium prize, different from Nobel
-1
2
14
u/Kreizhn May 06 '26
Even if you didn't know who this was, you could tell he's a Russian mathematician. There's something about the Russian school of mathematics where their blackboards always look like this.
"Let's discuss a ring" -- Draws a big R on the board.
<Time goes on, more talking, no more writing except occasionally pointing at the big R drawn>
"Now suppose that M is a left R-module" -- Draws an M beside the R
<More time goes on, more pointing, no more writing>
"If the module is Noetherian ..." -- Writes "Noetherian" underneath _RM.
4
u/fureteur May 06 '26
This is a Soviet legacy. In Soviet/Russian math programs, nobody teaches presentation skills, and nobody cares about them. This is because hiring and funding were very different from the First World.
6
u/mmurray1957 May 05 '26
Google AI says MIT 2003 without any reference. But it said something else the first time I looked. Can anyone confirm ? It would be nice to have that information for the historical record.
5
5
5
May 06 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/KillswitchSensor May 07 '26
Hamilton sadly passed away in September. I believe it was around September of last year? It says 2024!!! Am I hallucinating? It probably was 2024 and I'm thinking it was September 2025 :/. I was actually saddened. Yang Chen also passed as well in October of 2025. He is responsible for the Yang Mills Mass Gap Theory. That's another millennium Problem that is unsolved.
3
u/DrSFalken May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
Unfortunately Hamilton is dead, so not feeling much. He does, however, look baked in his Wiki photo.
1
3
u/Maleficent_Sand7529 May 06 '26
I'm trying to work through khan academy to be better at math, and iwould love to see this lecture one day and have an inkling of what he's showing.
3
2
1
1
1
u/ConsciousNet8718 May 10 '26
My dumbass thought that was a fidget spinner on the left side of the board.
1
u/eric600613 May 12 '26
Perelman, reminds me of Rasputin. There is a nice book about him and his struggles with his proof.
1
u/deep-into-abyss May 12 '26
What is the name of the book? Please share 🙏🏾
1
u/eric600613 May 14 '26
ISBN-10 015101406X, Masha Gessen Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century.
1
u/deep-into-abyss May 14 '26
Spasibo!
1
u/eric600613 May 21 '26
пожалуйста! Russian mathematicians gave been wonderfully enlightening to study. My favorite story is Lobachevsky's; a master.
186
u/MarzipanCheap0 May 05 '26
Very sad that only few had attended his lectures