Poincaré conjecture proof and Grigory Perelman, a k a Grisha's refusal to accept the Fields Medal

The Poincaré Conjecture was first posed by the French mathematician, Jules Henri Poincaré, in 1904, and seeks to understand the shape of the universe by linking shapes, spaces and surfaces. More can be found about Poincaré Conjecture here. Dr. Perelman refused to accept the Fields medal (eq. to being a Nobel prize in Mathematics), as he has other honors, and he did not attend the ceremonies at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid. Story can be found here and here. Perelman is a Russian topologist. He published his solution to the Poincaré Conjecture last month on the internet to everyones surprise. Poincaré’s conjecture asserts that if any loop in a certain kind of three-dimensional space can be shrunk to a point without ripping or tearing either the loop or the space, the space is equivalent to a sphere. According to this conjecture, a sphere, a cigar and a rabbit’s head are all the same because they can be deformed into one another.
Another interesting link.