December 25, 2003
Poincare conjecture proved?
A few months ago, Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman reported that he had proven the Pioncare Conjecture. Apparently Perelman is regarded is especially brilliant, so there was good hope he would turn out to be right, but at the time it was said that it would take months for other mathematicians to vet the result.
I was reminded of this when I came across the copy of Science News reporting the finding. A Google search yields several mentions of the claim, but none of either a confirmation or disconfirmation. If any reader can suppy an update, I'll be happy to post.
Update: Gabriel Rosenberg at Galois says it's too early to tell. An email correpondent says that the delay probably means that some errors have been found in the proof, but that no one knows yet whether they're easily fixable.
More from the Boston Globe, via Off the Kuff. Sounds encouraging. Apparently there's no doubt Perelman has brought off something major, whether it proves the Poincare Conjecture or not.
