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M ètode Science Studies Journal , 8 (2018): 59–67. University of Valencia.

DOI: 10.7203/metode.8.9265
ISSN: 2174-3487 / eISSN: 2174-9221.
Article received: 23/11/2016, accepted: 02/03/2017.

THE POINCARÉ CONJECTURE

A PROBLEM SOLVED AFTER A CENTURY OF NEW IDEAS AND CONTINUED
WORK

María Teresa Lozano Imízcoz

The Poincaré conjecture is a topological problem established in 1904 by the French mathematician
Henri Poincaré. It characterises three-dimensional spheres in a very simple way. It uses only the first
invariant of algebraic topology – the fundamental group – which was also defined and studied by
Poincaré. The conjecture implies that if a space does not have essential holes, then it is a sphere. This
problem was directly solved between 2002 and 2003 by Grigori Perelman, and as a consequence of
his demonstration of the Thurston geometrisation conjecture, which culminated in the path pro-
posed by Richard Hamilton.

Keywords: topology, sphere, fundamental group, Riemannian geometry, Ricci flow.

■■ RECOGNIZED WORK differential equations to connect curvatures with

the metric’s variation. In fact, Hamilton received the
The Poincaré conjecture is the only millennium prestigious Clay Research Award in 2003 for the
problem that has been solved so far. On 18 March discovery and development of the Ricci flow, one of
2010, the Clay Mathematics Institute announced the most powerful tools in geometric analysis.
a prize of one million dollars for the Russian
mathematician Grigori Perelman. Four years before,
■■ INITIAL FRAMEWORK OF THE CONJECTURE:
Perelman had been awarded a Fields Medal at the
TOPOLOGY
International Congress of Mathematicians held in
Madrid in 2006, for his contributions to geometry The Poincaré conjecture is framed within one
and his revolutionary vision of the analytical and of the most abstract branches of mathematics,
geometric structure of the Ricci topology. Its creator, the French
flow, but he did not accept his mathematician Jules Henri
Fields Medal or his millennium «THE POINCARÉ
Poincaré, called it «analysis
prize. situs»; and it is the field of
CONJECTURE IS FRAMED
Perelman announced in mathematics that characterises
three preprints, published WITHIN ONE OF THE MOST some of the qualitative properties
between 2002 and 2003 in the ABSTRACT BRANCHES OF of objects, those that remain
open access database arXiv, MATHEMATICS, TOPOLOGY» after continuous deformation,
the solution to the Thurston that is, those that are smooth,
geometrisation conjecture, which without breaking points, cuts, or
contains the Poincaré conjecture identifications. It is a type of soft
as a particular case. The two first texts, together with geometry, rather than a rigid one. This original idea
his unpublished work as well as the work, published was the fruit of a mind with an extraordinary ability
after 2003, of other mathematicians, proved the for spatial abstraction.
conjecture of geometrisation. The third text, which We can say that in topology two objects
assumes the essential results of the other two, offers a – topological spaces – are equivalent or homeomorphic
direct verification of the Poincaré conjecture. when one can be obtained from the other through
Perelman’s solution is based on ideas of Richard a continuous deformation, that is, when there is a
Hamilton and uses the Ricci flow, which employs biunivocal and bicontinuous correspondence between

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Museum of Modern Art of New York

M ètode

For a topologist, a hollow sports ball is still a sphere,

independently of how inflated it is. Its size does not matter either;
In 1904 the French mathematician Jules Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) it is a sphere whether it is used in rugby, tennis, table tennis, or
proposed one of the most well-known problems in the history of football. We could say that the artist Salvador Dalí acted as a
mathematics, framed in one of its most abstract fields: topology. topologist when he painted his melting clocks.

them. For a topologist, a hollow sports ball is still a spaces allow for the same phenomena: dimension
sphere, independently of how inflated it is. Its size plays an important role. Intuitively, the dimension
does not matter either; it is a sphere whether it is used of a space is understood as the maximum number
in rugby, tennis, table tennis, or football. But a ball of independent directions or coordinates. Thus,
is topologically different from a tyre or a metal nut, a curve has dimension 1, a surface has dimension
because these latter objects have a central essential 2, and our environment has dimension 3. We can
hole. We could say that the artist Salvador Dalí acted imagine a variety of dimension 4 if we also consider
as a topologist when he painted his melting clocks. time in a physical dimension 3 space.
This branch of mathematics, widely known and Manifolds are the most interesting objects
used by theoretical physicists, was not fairly valued by in topology. The mathematical concept of an
general science until the recent discovery of topological n-dimension manifold (or n-manifold) is the
insulators. These are new types of materials that abstraction of the n-dimensional space. Manifolds
insulate on the inside but are very good conductors are spaces with similar characteristics at any point.
on the outside. These properties are due to their That is to say, the local surroundings around a given
shape, i.e. the topological structure which remains point are analogous to the local environment around
after deformations in the material. The theoretical any other point, and analogous to the local situation
Nobel Prize

physicists David Thouless, Duncan Haldane, and of the classical physical n-dimensional space, i.e.,
Michael Kosterlitz received the Nobel Prize in 2016 each point is the centre of an n-dimensional ball.
for their applications of topology to quantum physics Locally, a dimension 1 manifold is like an interval
in these new materials and this award brought this of a straight line, a dimension 2 manifold is like a
mathematical discipline to the foreground. disk, and a dimension 3 manifold is like a ball... If all
In order to understand the context of the conjecture, the manifolds of the same dimension are topologically
let us first analyse some basic concepts. A space is equivalent locally, what can we know about them
the place where physical phenomena occur, where globally? This question leads us to think about a
points move following the laws of physics. Not all global classification of manifolds. We would like to

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have a complete classification, a complete list with

no repetitions; that is, to be able to enumerate a list of
manifolds in which each manifold is equivalent to one
and only one element in the list. We can analyse the
answer in an increasing number of dimensions.
From left to right, a sphere (orientable closed surface of genus 0),
Dimension 1. What is a manifold of dimension torus (genus 1), and double torus (genus 2).
1 like as a whole? We can easily understand that a
circle is different from a straight line because, for
For us, the difference between two surfaces of
instance, if we move from a point P in one direction
different genus is easy to understand because we see
with a constant velocity, in the first case we will reach
them from outside, due to the fact that our field of
point P again, but in the case of a straight line that
view involves an extra dimension that allows us to see
will never happen. The circle and the straight line
these surfaces globally. But a flat being, Twodi, who
are representatives of the two possible connected
lived on the surface and whose view was limited to the
dimension 1 manifolds. Any 1-dimensional manifold is
two-dimensional world, would be unable to distinguish
formed by the disjoint union of closed lines and open
them. Its vision would necessarily be local, and locally
lines; that is, of circles and straight lines.
all surfaces are the same, they resemble a disk. Surface
Dimension 2. The demonstration of the classification classification can be rigorously demonstrated using
of compact dimension 2 manifolds (surfaces) has been the fundamental group, the first invariant in algebraic
complete since the nineteenth century. A manifold is topology defined by Poincaré. Given a point P on a
«compact» if any infinite sequence of points contains manifold, let us consider paths on the manifold starting
a converging subsequence. Compact surfaces are and ending at P. For our purposes, we can identify two
classified according to their orientability, genus, and paths that can be continuously deformed one onto the
the number of circles in their boundary. In orientable other, as a rubber band would, as being equal (we call
surfaces, the genus is the number of essential holes. these paths «homotopes»). Some of these loops can be
Thus, the sphere would be an orientable closed surface continuously contracted until they are reduced to the
– compact and without a boundary – of genus 0; the point P. Of course, if the loop surrounds a hole, this is
torus, of genus 1, and the double torus, of genus 2. not possible.

c
a

b
a
ur

g
Se
gi o
Ser

Figure 1. Torus T.

For instance, in the torus T in Figure 1, a loop like

c can be contracted into a single point, but loops a and
b cannot. Observe that the loops can be juxtaposed by
making one continue the other: if P is the point where
the paths a and b paths meet, we can define a path
starting at P, following a, going all the way back to P,
then following b until it reaches P again. This loop is
In 2016, the theoretical physicists David Thouless, Duncan Haldane, the juxtaposition of a and b. Nothing prevents us from
and Michael Kosterlitz received the Nobel Prize for Physics for juxtaposing a and a to create a loop that surrounds the
their applications of topology to quantum physics in new materials. surface twice, and we can surround the surface in this
When the winners were announced, Professor Thors Hans Hansson, way by juxtaposing path a as many times as we want.
one of the members of the physics Nobel committee, used a
cinnamon roll (without holes), a bagel (with one hole) and a pretzel
Just as we can juxtapose b and b to obtain a loop that
(with two) to explain the concept of topology. The awards brought surrounds the torus tube twice. However, juxtaposing
this mathematical discipline to the foreground. c and c does not provide a different path, since the loop

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obtained can collapse at a point. The juxtaposition of b the two-dimensional surface in the previous paragraph.
and a loop such as c provides a loop homotopic to b. We cannot visualise three-dimensional manifolds
There is an important question we have not yet taken globally, so we must turn to the study of invariants
into account: a path can be followed in two directions. in order to distinguish them. Manifold invariants
Then we say one is the inverse of the other. Note that if are algebraic objects (numbers, polynomials, groups,
we juxtapose a path and its inverse, we get a loop that etc.) that we associate with each manifold so that an
can be contracted to a point. In mathematical terms, we invariant takes the same value in equivalent manifolds.
have obtained a group denoted as π1(T, P). A group is an In the case of surfaces, the simplest one is the
algebraic structure consisting of a set and an operation sphere S2. If we look for a coordinate representation
between its elements that verifies three properties. of the n-dimensional sphere, Sn, we situate it in the
Our set consists of the classes of closed paths and the (n + 1)-dimensional Euclidean space, an ordinary space
operation is the juxtaposition. The class that can be of n+1 dimensions with Euclidean metrics in which the
contracted to a point is the neutral element or identity. shortest distance between two points is the straight line.
In this Euclidean space, the sphere is the topological
space whose points are at the same distance from a
given point, for instance, the origin of coordinates.
{( ) � }
S1 = x1 , x2 ∈ R2 � x21 + x22 = 1

In topology, loops are closed paths that start and end in P. In the {( ) � }
figure, we can observe examples of loops in the sphere (left) and the S2 = x1 , x2 , x3 ∈ R3 � x21 + x22 + x23 = 1
torus (right).
{( ) � }
In general, the elements of the fundamental group S3 = x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ∈ R4 � x21 + x22 + x23 + x24 = 1
π1(X, P) of a topological space X based on a point P of {( }
the space X are the loop classes, closed paths starting S4 =
) �
x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 ∈ R5 � x21 + x22 + x23 + x24 + x25 = 1
and ending at point P, and their composition law is the
juxtaposition. The identity is the class of paths α that
With this introduction, we can understand the
can be continuously deformed contracting to point P,
Poincaré conjecture: the sphere S3 is the only simply-
without ever leaving the manifold and preserving the
connected closed manifold of dimension 3.
ends at point P. A group is considered trivial if it is
It is easy to verify that the fundamental group of the
reduced to only the identity. It is easy to observe that
three-dimensional sphere is, indeed, the trivial group.
every closed path α in the sphere represents the identity,
The problem is finding a three-dimensional manifold
because they can always be contracted to P. One can
with a trivial fundamental group other than the sphere
imagine that the path is an elastic band that shrinks
(that is, a counterexample to the Poincaré conjecture), or
during deformation. Therefore, the fundamental group
proving that any closed three-dimensional variety with
of the sphere is trivial. But a path β on another surface
a trivial fundamental group is topologically equivalent
Fg, different from the sphere that surrounds an essential
to the sphere (confirming the Poincaré conjecture).
hole, cannot be contracted to point P without leaving
This simple statement remained unverified and
the surface or breaking the path.
unrefuted for a century. But that time was far from
When the fundamental group of a manifold is trivial,
wasted. The twentieth century was fruitful for its study
the manifold is considered «simply connected». This
of topological, geometric, and differential techniques
is equivalent to saying that every closed path contracts
applicable to 3-manifolds, which led to their profound
continuously to one of its points. Thus, using this
understanding. As we did with surfaces, we will now
invariant, the fundamental group, we have characterised
consider only orientable 3-manifolds. Even though
the two-dimensional sphere: the sphere S2 is the only
the initial framework of the Poincaré conjecture was
simply-connected closed surface.
exclusively topological, its solution
1 involves Riemannian
Dimension 3. This topic interests, essentially, geometry and the differential equations of the Ricci flow.
scientists because their curiosity leads them to crave In the twentieth century there were interesting
knowledge about the global nature of world we inhabit, discoveries regarding the Poincaré conjecture. Poincaré
i.e. the shape of the universe. We live in a three- also defined the first homology group, the abelianization
dimensional space, so when we observe the manifold of the fundamental group; that is, the group obtained
we inhabit globally, our situation is limited to local from the fundamental group after adding the
observation, as happened to Twodi, the inhabitant of commutativity of all its elements. Poincaré himself, in

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his Cinquième complément à l’analysis situs (Poincaré,

1904), gave a negative answer to his first question of
approximation in the Poincaré conjecture: is knowing
that the first homology group of a 3-manifold is trivial
sufficient to ensure that it is the 3-sphere? That paper
provides an interesting and beautiful counterexample
to the issue: his famous dodecahedral manifold.
This manifold, known today as «Poincaré’s
homology sphere» or the «Poincaré dodecahedral
space», can be defined as the set of regular
dodecahedra (or, alternatively, regular icosahedra)
inscribed into a two-dimensional sphere. It is the
manifold resulting from identifying each face with its
opposite in a solid dodecahedron, using a π/5 twist.
This manifold has a finite fundamental group of 120
elements, whose abelianization is the trivial group, and
its universal cover is the sphere S3. The dodecahedral
manifold is obtained as the quotient of the sphere
S3 due to the action of a group of isometries with
120 elements. The point is to see the sphere as the
boundary of a regular polytope of dimension 4 called
5

the «120-cell». That is to say, the sphere S3 tessellated

1 1 with 120 regular spherical dodecahedra with 120º
dihedral angles, pasted together by their faces (720
pentagons), where each edge is shared between three
1
1

1 dodecahedra. In total, there are 600 vertices and 1,200

2 2 4 edges. These dodecahedra are exchanged by a group of
4 2 isometries. The quotient is Poincaré’s homology sphere.
The Cinquième complément à l’analysis situs ends
with the correct enunciation of the Poincaré conjecture,
3 3 written as a statement. The text claims that what
characterises the three-dimensional sphere is having
Sergio Segura

a trivial fundamental group. The last sentence in the

4 paper is: «Mais cette question nous entraînerait trop
4 loin» (“But this question would take us too far”).
Several mathematicians have confessed they have
devoted part of their work to proving it or to finding a
counterexample, although it has been said that every
Imagining a three-dimensional object in a four-dimensional
topologist has also tried to do so at some point. The
space is always difficult, but we can do it by analogy. Just as we need to find new arguments has allowed experts to
can comprehend a three-dimensional object like a cube in a flat find interesting procedures to construct all the closed
development, we can try to imagine a four-dimensional cube using 3-manifolds, by analogy to known procedures for the
its spatial development. In the top diagram, development of a cube construction of all closed orientable surfaces.
in a plane; on the bottom one, development of a hypercube in a
three-dimensional space (or rather, the projection of its spatial
development on a plane). To obtain the figure, we need to join ■■ NEW IDEAS: THURSTON
the faces with the same colour, which is impossible in our three-
dimensional space. Until 1980, the techniques used were either topological
or combinatorial, but in the 1980s, geometric
techniques emerged thanks to the mathematician
William Thurston, Fields Medal 1982. The introduction
«IN THE 1980s, GEOMETRIC TECHNIQUES
of Riemannian geometry into a manifold consists in
EMERGED THANKS TO THE MATHEMATICIAN coherently defining a local metric in order to measure
WILLIAM THURSTON, FIELDS MEDAL 1982» distances, angles, areas, etc. The intuitive idea is to

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e
g
i h
c

b f
j a
d
e a g
j
d
h d b
c
f a h i
i f

María Teresa Lozano Imízcoz

Bill Wingell, The New York Times

g e
c b
j

Poincaré’s homology sphere is the result of identifying each face

Until 1980, the techniques used were topological or combinatorial, in a solid dodecahedron with the opposite one with a π/5 twist, as
but in the 1980s geometric techniques arrived thanks to the in the figure, where the plane of projection is the boundary of the
mathematician William Thurston. dodecahedron and opposing faces have the same colour.

harden the topological manifold to be able to use Hellmuth Kneser proved that each closed 3-manifold
geometric techniques. If this is done on a surface, it different from S3 contains a maximum finite number
can be done homogeneously so that the curvature of spheres S2 that divides the manifold into several
is the same at each point on the surface. Thus, the pieces, so that if we attach a ball to each boundary
two-dimensional sphere has a positive curvature; the sphere, prime manifolds are obtained (Kneser, 1929).
torus (or F1), has curvature 0; and surfaces Fg, g > 1, Later, John Milnor proved that this decomposition
have a negative curvature. That is to say, the three into prime pieces is unique up to order (Milnor,
Riemannian geometries – spherical (with a constant 1962). Therefore, it seems reasonable to restrict the
positive curvature), Euclidean (curvature zero), and study to prime manifolds. A modification of Kneser’s
hyperbolic (with a negative arguments permits cutting a prime
curvature) – are both necessary manifold along a finite number
and sufficient to geometrise all «THE THREE RIEMANNIAN
of embedded incompressible tori
closed surfaces. to obtain simple pieces that do
GEOMETRIES – SPHERICAL,
To bring this to 3-manifolds, not contain more non-peripheral
we must divide the manifold EUCLIDEAN, AND incompressible tori. A torus (F1)
into parts. The process is partly HYPERBOLIC – ARE BOTH is «incompressible» if it cannot be
analogous to integer factorization. NECESSARY AND SUFFICIENT simplified further, meaning that no
The idea is to divide the manifold TO GEOMETRISE ALL CLOSED
simple essential closed curve in F1
in simpler pieces; these basic is continuously deformed in a point
pieces are also referred to as SURFACES»
of the manifold. This collection of
«primes». The division consists tori is also unique, as stated by the
in sectioning the manifold and Jaco-Shalen-Johannson theorem
attaching balls, thus obtaining simpler manifolds. For (Jaco & Shalen, 1978; Johannson, 1979).
instance, in surfaces, the double torus can be divided A manifold is «geometric» if it is the quotient of a
first by a central circle, then adding two disks to cancel geometry by a discrete group of isometries that act
the created holes and two tori are obtained. The prime freely and discontinuously, and have a finite volume.
orientable surfaces are the sphere and the torus. Prime Thurston proved that eight geometries were necessary
manifolds are those that cannot be divided further with to geometrise the interior of the simple pieces, and he
this method. In dimension 3, a manifold is prime if it is conjectured that they were enough. More specifically,
S2 × S1, or if any embedded sphere borders a ball. he established the conjecture of geometrisation in

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3-manifolds: each prime 3-manifold M is geometric characters can move from one world to another
or the interior of its simple pieces are geometric crossing these (more or less invisible) frontiers that
manifolds with only eight geometries. connect them.
Thurston’s eight geometries – which are necessary Thurston proved his conjecture for a wide class
and sufficient to geometrise 3-manifolds – perfectly of manifolds (Haken manifolds) that have enough
described by Peter Scott (1983) and grouped here in complexity to be able to apply for his methods, which
three types, are: cannot be applied to simply-connected manifolds.

Constant sectional Product Twisted products

curvature geometries ■■ THE RICCI FLOW: HAMILTON
Spherical S3 S2 × R Nil If we want to geometrise a 3-variety, we can start by
(positive)
describing a Riemannian metric in the manifold and
Euclidean E3 H2 × R Sol making that metric change over time, trying to obtain
(zero)
a homogeneous metric for the whole manifold. If we
Hyperbolic H3 The universal consider surfaces, an easier dimension to understand
(negative) cover of SL(2;R) these concepts, the idea is to think, for instance, in a
topologically deformed sphere with its corresponding
metric, and to turn it over time into a perfectly
round sphere. The appropriate techniques for the
development of these ideas require using differential
(a) (b) (c) equations, invented by Isaac Newton to explain
Figure illustrating the constant curvature surfaces in three- how bodies move under the influence of an external
dimensional space. They are the plane (a), with zero curvature; the force. In particular, the geometrist is interested in an
sphere (b), with positive curvature; and the pseudosphere (c), which analogous equation to the Fourier heat equation – the
differential equation governing temperature changes
is the surface generated by a tractrix and has a negative curvature.

All the geometric manifolds with a geometry other – since a homogeneous distribution of temperature
than the hyperbolic have been classified. Therefore, is reached over time. We want to use an equation to
after proving the geometrisation conjecture, we just connect the change in geometry with a geometric
need to classify hyperbolic manifolds. quality such as curvature, in order to obtain a
The Poincaré conjecture is a special case in the geometry with a homogeneous curvature distribution.
geometrisation conjecture. Note that, of Thurston’s Hamilton (1982) defined an equation for the Ricci
eight geometries, only S3, the one with constant flow including, on the one hand, the derivative of
positive sectional curvature, is compact. If a compact the metric tensor and, on the other, the Ricci tensor
manifold is simply connected, it does not have an (related to curvature): ∂t gij = –2Rij.
incompressible torus or essential spheres; therefore, That is, the Ricci flow equation is analogous to
the manifold is geometric and can only be S3. the Fourier heat equation, but in a geometric context.
The decomposition in simple pieces has an inverse Its goal is to homogenise curvature just as the heat
process, once simple pieces are given geometry. equation homogenises temperature. If we start with a
There are two ways to join two 3-manifolds to obtain manifold with a crumpled metric geometry, we expect
a new manifold. The first one, the «connected sum», the flow to gradually correct the anomalies and reach
consists in deleting a ball inside each of them and a manifold with regular geometry.
joining together the complements identifying the
two resulting boundaring spheres. The second, used
to join manifolds with boundary, is to identify two
components of the boundary, one in each 3-manifold,
by a homeomorphism. These unions are known as
«wormholes» and connect geometric pieces. In the
connected sum, we have a wormhole with spherical
section; and in the second case, the wormhole’s The Ricci flow equation is analogous to Fourier’s heat equation,
section is the surface used in the identification. In but in a geometric context. Its goal is to homogenise curvature
just as the heat equation homogenises temperature. The idea
theory, a wormhole joining two space-time regions is to think, for example, in a deformed topological sphere with
would allow us to travel in time and space. This its corresponding metric and, over time, transforming it into a
idea has suggested stories, novels, and films where perfectly round sphere.

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With these techniques, Hamilton proved powerful

theorems, but he found obstacles to proving the
Poincaré conjecture. He found that some singularities
could be produced in the flow but was not able to
solve them and he also had problems in analysing the
situation when time goes to infinity in some cases.
People interested in studying the Ricci flow can check
the Lecture on the Ricci flow, published by Peter
Topping in 2006 and available online1.

■■ THE SOLUTION: PERELMAN

Perelman’s announcement was surprising. He offered
a positive solution to the Thurston geometrisation
conjecture in his first two papers and a direct
demonstration of the Poincaré conjecture in the third
one (Perelman, 2002, 2003a, 2003b). His work is based
on the Ricci flow and contains new ideas for solving
problems related to singularities and in the step to the
M ètode

infinite limit. Understanding and verifying these results

was the work of several groups of mathematicians The Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman did not accept
his Fields Medal in 2006 or the million dollar prize in 2010 for
who have published papers and books with detailed the solution of the Poincaré conjecture, one of the millennium
explanations of Perelman’s work, including Bruce problems.
Kleiner and John Lott in Geometry and Topology,
published in 2008. Although it was eventually published n-manifolds (n>3) that are not homeomorphic to
after other texts, it was the first to appear in arXiv, the n-dimensional sphere (for instance, S2 × S n-2).
and to be freely consultable by the other teams. Other Therefore, in dimension n >3 we have to generalise the
noteworthy work between 2006 and 2009 was that fundamental group. A class of paths that start and end
by John Morgan and Gang Tian, Huai-Dong Cao and at point P is a class of maps from S1 to the X-manifold
Xi-Ping Zhu, and Laurent Bessières, Gérard Besson, containing the point P and it can be imagined as a
Michel Boileau, Sylvain Maillot, and Joan Porti. circular rubber band in the manifold containing P. We
have denoted it as π1(X; P). With one more dimension,
■■ THE POINCARÉ CONJECTURE IN HIGHER we can take spherical elastic membranes (like balloons)
DIMENSIONS containing P: they are classes of maps from S2 to
X, containing point P and denoted as π 2(X; P). We
So far we have talked about S1, S2 y S3, but nothing could keep on increasing dimensions and define the
keeps us from broadening the dimension and homotopy group π i(X; P) as the classes of maps from Si
considering S4, S5, Sn, and so on. In general, the to X containing point P.
n-sphere Sn is defined as the set of vectors Two spaces X, Y are of the same homotopy type if
all their respective homotopy groups are isomorphic:
( x1, x2, , x n, xn+1
)  n+1
π i(X; P) @ π i(Y; Q). The formulation of the conjecture
such that in dimension n (CPn) is: every closed n-manifold of
x12 + x 22 + + xn2 + xn+1
2
=1 the same homotopy type as that of the sphere Sn is
equivalent to the sphere Sn.
Therefore, in any dimension n > 1 we can consider a The conjecture was solved first for dimension n > 4.
problem analogous to the Poincaré conjecture, although Since 1960, several mathematicians have tried different
without spatial intuition. versions of the Poincaré conjecture in dimension n
We cannot enunciate the Poincaré conjecture in through different methods. In dimensions less than
dimension n saying that the sphere Sn is the only closed or equal to 3 it does not matter if we work with
and simply-connected dimension n manifold, because topological, combinatorial, or differentiable manifolds,
we know there are closed and simply-connected but this is not the case with higher dimensions. The
used manifold category and its corresponding methods
1 http://homepages.warwick.ac.uk/~maseq/topping_RF_mar06.pdf is what distinguishes the different demonstrations.

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The demonstration in dimension 4 was obtained

refusal as a protest twenty years later by Michael Freedman. In that same
paper, he classified all the closed and simply connected
4-manifolds. Freedman also received a Fields Medal

O
ne of the requirements for obtaining the
in 1986.
Clay Institute prize is the publication of
the problem in a specialised journal with a
peer review process. But the Russian mathematician ■■ LOOKING FOR THE SHAPE OF THE UNIVERSE
Grigori Perelman published his 2002 and 2003
Today we have some books that present the historical
works only on arXiv, the famous Cornell University
development of the topic with accessible content
website for scientific manuscripts. Those texts do
for university students. For example, The Poincaré
not even mention the Poincaré conjecture, even
conjecture: In search of the shape of the universe
though it would be a consequence of their results.
(O’Shea, 2007) explains the entire history of geometry,
When his papers were verified by the mathematical
starting with the Pythagorean school in 500 BC, but
community and it was clear that they were correct,
taking into account Euclid, Gauss, Lobachevsky,
the International Mathematical Union awarded him
and Bolyai’s hyperbolic geometry, and the ideas by
a Fields Medal, which he should have received at
Riemann and Poincaré. It analyses twentieth century
the International Congress of Mathematicians held
advances and explains Thurston’s geometrisation
in Madrid in August 2006. But Perelman refused the
conjecture. The subtitle of the book stimulates the
prestigious award.
reader’s curiosity and promotes the study of three-
It is difficult to know why he rejected it. Perelman
dimensional manifolds.
has always avoided the press, and few journalists
have managed to meet and talk to him. Not even
his biographer, Masha Gessen, was able to interview REFERENCES
him about it. The most extensive and documented Hamilton, R. (1982). Three-manifolds with positive Ricci curvature. Journal
of Differential Geometry, 17(2), 255–306.
article about him might be the one published Jaco, W., & Shalen, P. B. (1978). A new decomposition theorem for
in The New Yorker in August 2006.1 The authors, irreducible sufficiently-large 3-manifolds. In J. Milgram (Ed.), Algebraic
Sylvia Nasar and David Gruber, explain the Poincaré and geometric topology (pp. 71–84). Providence: American Mathematical
Society. doi: 10.1090/pspum/032.2
conjecture, analyse different aspects of its solution Johannson, K. (1979). Homotopy equivalences of 3-manifolds with
(among them, an attempt to appropriate the boundaries. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
solution), and describe an encounter with Perelman. Kneser, H. (1929). Geschlossene Flächen in dreidimesnionalen
Mannigfaltigkeiten. Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-
It seems that the keys to his refusal are Vereinigung, 38, 248–260.
fundamentally ethical. He said that the Fields Milnor, J. (1962). A unique decomposition theorem for 3-manifolds.
Medal «was completely irrelevant to me. Everybody American Journal of Mathematics, 84(1), 1–7.
O’Shea, D. (2007). The Poincaré conjecture: In search of the shape of the
understood that if the proof is correct then no universe. New York: Walker Publishing Company.
other recognition is needed.» But there is also Perelman, G. (2002). The entropy formula for the Ricci flow and its geometric
a general reproach to the profession: Perelman applications. ArXiv. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0211159
Perelman, G. (2003a). Finite extinction time for the solutions to the Ricci flow
stated that «there are many mathematicians who on certain three-manifolds. ArXiv. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/
are more or less honest. But almost all of them are math/0307245
conformists. They are more or less honest, but they Perelman, G. (2003b). Ricci flow with surgery on three-manifolds. ArXiv.
Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0303109
tolerate those who are not honest.» He added that Poincaré, H. (1904). Cinquième complément à l’analysis situs. Rendiconti del
«it is not people who break ethical standards who Circolo Matematico di Palermo, 18(1), 45–110.
are regarded as aliens. It is people like me who are Scott, P. (1983). The geometries of 3-manifolds. Bulletin of the London
Mathematical Society, 15(5), 401–487.
isolated.»
Perelman did not say at that time whether or ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
not his objection to awards extended to the million Partial support came from MTM2013-45710-c2-1-p, MTM2016-76868-c2-
dollar prize of the Clay Institute: «I’m not going 2-p, and DGA/European Social Fund: Consolidated Group E15.

to decide whether to accept the prize until it is

María Teresa Lozano Imízcoz. PhD in Mathematics from the University
offered.» However, when he was offered the prize in of Zaragoza (Spain) specialised in geometry and topology. Her research
2010, he rejected it as well. includes results on knot invariants, geometric structures in three-dimensional
Sergio Segura manifolds, universal links, and their related topics. She is an emeritus
professor of the University of Zaragoza, tenured member of the Real
Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas, Químicas y Naturales of Zaragoza,
1 www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/08/28/manifold-destiny and a corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Exact,
Physical, and Natural Sciences.

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