The Quiet Genius of Grigori Perelman: Why He Turned Down a Million Dollars, the Fields Medal, and Chose a Simple Life in Leningrad

I stumbled upon a video about Grigori Perelman while watching others. This comment interested me, so I thought I’d share it with you all.

Comment from @Ceasingthememes (On YouTube) :

"Grisha and Masha were both classmates and friends of my mother who went to school 239 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). He had an unkempt appearance even from high school (untied shoes, messy hair, and eventually a messy beard) as my mother describes. There were a couple of additional reasons as to why he turned down the million dollars and Fields medal. He said that his achievement was built upon the work of others and that the contributions of others to his own success was not properly recognized. Additionally, he said that he did not see the point in accepting rewards for his achievement from people who did not understand what they were rewarding him for. As far as the whole mushroom picking thing, it is a common Russian practice to go foraging for edible (non-psychedelic lol) mushrooms in the forest (it's very relaxing and the mushrooms taste great!). He also did not disappear. I suppose he disappeared from the public eye, but it is rather common knowledge that he moved back in with his aging mother to take care of her in the same apartment she had lived in since before the fall of the Soviet Union. Sadly, there are a few videos on YouTube of people chasing the poor guy down and bothering him as he tries to go about his daily tasks. He was never a fan of the public eye and stuff like this is just downright rude. Anyways, hope this provides a bit more background info :) [sic]".