Grisha Perelman is a mathematician who generated a solution to the Poincaire Conjecture, one of the more difficult problems in mathematics. Sylvia Nasar and David Gruber provide a background to this problem in a profound and revealing piece in the New Yorker Magazine a while back. Grisha Perelman provided the proof by uncharacteristically publishing it on a website without bothering to send it to the formal mathematical journals. Later, he was deservedly awarded the Fields Medal by the International Mathematics Union and he declined the invitation almost contemptuously.
I learn every day that all the principles of economics are very strong and can be objectively demonstrated but also that some have definite limits. To start with, I have argued on this blog that one of the best ways to get solutions for academic or policy problems is to assign adequate prizes for them. The argument being that the financial reward mimics the market mechanism by presenting an incentive towards the development of the solution. About a week ago, the Clay Mathematics Institute announced that it awarded the Millenium Prize for the Poincaire Conjecture to Grisha was confirmed and he was therefore entitled to the US$ 1 million prize.
Surprisingly, Grisha has neither acknowledged the prize nor accepted the financial award in spite of evidence that he is not materially wealthy. It may well be that there are a small number of people whose reward is the conquest of a longstanding and difficult problem and that the solution may be its own reward.
1 comment:
My own observation is that the market laws may be strong, but not in what motivates human behaviors and professional commitment - You have scores of professionals (not just scientific stars) who are very committed to their work on a daily basis because they find reward in these other than money - I am talking of teachers, nurses, charity workers, physicians. Frankly, I don't think the so-called market economy would survive without them.
Post a Comment