Russian declines $ 1m maths prize

SAINT PETERSBURG: A Russian recluse who solved a complex riddle that could land him a million dollars won the mathematics equivalent of a Nobel prize Tuesday, but true to form refused to pick it up or collect the money.

Grigory Perelman, 40, told AFP by telephone he spent the afternoon watching television instead of attending the ceremony in Madrid where King Juan Carlos of Spain awarded four prestigious Fields Medals.

Perelman was singled out for solving Poincare’s Conjecture, which involves properties of multi-dimensional space and has perplexed mathematicians since it was coined by Frenchman Henri Poincare in 1904. AFP