Russian mathematician rejects $1 million prize as he considers it unfair

A Russian mathematician has rejected a $1 million prize for solving one of the most challenging problems in mathematics because he considers it unfair.

According to Interfax news agency, the reclusive Grigory Perelman told the Clay Mathematics Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that he was turning down the prize, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Perelman, 43, said he believes his contribution in proving the Poincare Conjecture was no greater than that of American mathematician Richard Hamilton, who first suggested a programme for the solution.

The Clay Mathematics Institute confirmed in a statement on its website that Perelman had informed it of his refusal to accept the prize.

The Russian genius did not appear in Paris on June 22 to collect his prize for solving a problem that has puzzled scientists for more than a century.

The Poincare Conjecture, one of seven problems on the institute's Millennium Prize list, deals with shapes that exist in four or more dimensions.

Perelman, who lives in a small apartment in St Petersburg, Russia, with his aged mother, is unemployed. Neighbours say he lives in poverty.

Perelman has also rejected job offers from several top American universities.