100-yr-old math puzzle cracked

Solution carries a prize money of $1 million

The Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI), Cambridge, has announced that Perelman – who refused to accept Field’s Medal, considered to be the Nobel Prize for mathematicians – was awarded the Millennium Prize for solving the conjecture, theorised by the French mathematician Henri Poincare in 1904.

Related to understanding of three-dimensional shapes, the conjecture remains at one of the fundamental building blocks of human knowledge.
With the cracking of Poincare conjecture, the list of the Millennium problems has now been pruned to six from the original tally of seven.

At the turn of the millennium, the Clay institute came out with a list of seven mathematical problems that lie at the core of human knowledge. A correct solution to any of the problems will result in a $1,000,000 prize (known as Millennium Prize) being awarded by the institute.

Some of the problems like Poincare conjecture and Reimann Hypothesis are pristine that many academics feel if  mankind ever has any interaction with intellectually advanced extra-terrestrials, the ETs must be given these problems to gauge the knowledge level of the human race. 

All of these problems are around for sometime and continued to keep mathematicians from all over the world busy as only the Poincaré conjecture has been solved, by “Grisha” Perelman.

In 2006, the Russian mathematician who studied at Leningrad State University published submitted his proof to the institute, which took four years to review the Perelman proof before making the announcement.

In the meantime, he was offered the Field’s medal, but refused reportedly because of some his own ideas about the mathematical community.
CMI president James Carlson said, “Resolution of the Poincaré conjecture by Grigoriy Perelman brings to a close the century-long quest for the solution. It is a major advancement in the history of mathematics that will long be remembered.”
DH News Service