Fields Medal

Since I don't work with other Mathematicians, I don't hear a lot of current events in math. However, one of the most interesting to me was Grigori Perelman. In 2006, he solved the Poincaré conjecture, and then basically disappeared. This was one of the Millenium Problems, 7 math problems with a million dollar prize attached. He declined the money. He was also awarded the Fields Medal. He declined the award. Any thoughts?

Of course the money would be nice, but I would love for once to do something new and interesting in mathematics. You spend your time in school learning about mathematics used 5 thousand years ago, and if you are lucking, by the time you get a masters degree, you are learning about math from 100 years ago. There's no better subject, but it can be a little daunting.

My niece and her husband - one a math PhD, the other on the doorstep - were visiting in 2006 when that was in the papers. They were excited by it, but I didn't really learn anything more about it than was in general information at the time.

His leaving math is a sorry conclusion to another ego struggle.

Yes it is. I can't imagine reaching the height of your career, and then ...
Sad.

This episode involved quite a bit of intrigue beyond Perelman's quirky behavior:
Perelman in Notices
Perelman in New Yorker