Grigori Perelman

Grigori 'Grisha' Perelman is a Russian mathematician who is an expert on Ricci flow. Until the fall of 2002, he was best known for his work in comparison geometry, proving several notable results, such as Cheeger and Gromoll's Soul Conjecture.

However, in November 2002, he e-published on arXiv the first of a series of papers purporting to prove Thurston's Geometrization Conjecture. His plan of attack lies in modifying Richard Hamilton 's program for geometrization through Ricci flow. Compared to the more direct, topological programs (notably the differing approaches of W.P. Thurston, J.W. Cannon, and D. Gabai), this Ricci flow approach appears particularly promising at this stage.

Perelman's work is still under review by the mathematical community, as of May 27, 2003.

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CNN: Russian may have solved great math mystery