Grigori Perelman electrified the mathematical world 3 years ago with his claim to have solved one of the most famous problems in mathematics (SN: 6/14/03, p. 378: If It Looks Like a Sphere…). The Russian mathematician has now been awarded a Fields Medal, the highest honor in mathematics, given every 4 years to up to four recipients age 40 or under.
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Fields Medals, presented this week at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid, also went to Wendelin Werner of the University of Paris-Sud in Orsay, Andrei Okounkov of Princeton University, and Terence Tao of the University of California, Los Angeles.