I tried to google it and it’s not super clear.

-Perelman gets his phd in russia super young and is hired at NYU/SUNY

-Publishes some groundbreaking stuff on arxiv (a free site to post white papers in math and physics) in 2002/2003

-There is some drama with another scientist who is known for stealing people’s work trying to downplay Perelman’s contribution

-Perelman quits his US jobs and returns to russia to work in math (making wayyyyyyy less money), then quits that job too and becomes a recluse

-Turns down fields medal and millennium prize (1M dollars for solving)

-Says some mathematicians are unethical but the rest of them tolerate it so they’re shit too so the whole thing is shit. Also says he doesn’t want to be put in a zoo or treated like a pet about it.

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I’m going to go ahead and assume I don’t understand enough about being a math superstar to understand where he’s coming from, but he certainly sounds like a principled guy and now I respect him.