Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century

A gripping and tragic tale that sheds rare light on the unique burden of genius à In 2006, an eccentric Russian mathematician named Grigori Perelman solved the Poincare Conjecture, an extremely complex topological problem that had eluded the best minds for over a century. A prize of one million dollars was offered to anyone who could unravel it, but Perelman declined the winnings, and in doing so inspired journalist Masha Gessen to tell his story. Drawing on interviews with PerelmanÃÂÂs teachers, classmates, coaches, teammates, and colleagues in Russia and the United StatesÃÂÂand informed by her own background as a math whiz raised in RussiaÃÂÂGessen uncovered a mind of unrivaled computational power, one that enabled Perelman to pursue mathematical concepts to their logical sometimes distant end.