One recanted while another was lost.
Well, Grigory Perelman officially turned down the Fields Medal today, becoming the first person to refuse it. If he refuses the Millennium Math Prize of $1 million it will firmly establish his reputation in the lore of mathematics for centuries to come. Geniuses are remembered, for sure, but geniuses with stories are remembered better.
On the other side, talented Canadian math student Robert Barrington Leigh's body was found yesterday in the N. Saskatchewan River in Edmonton. The last anyone had seen him, he was cycling to the Edmonton Folk Festival. I did not meet him, but he did spend some time this summer hanging out at the University of Calgary with Alex Fink and Richard Guy.
2006-08-24 at 9.41 am
It would be even better if he was making a name for himself in a different field, which he will later turn down the awards for. Like "Catch me if you can" without the fraud.