Eccentric

eccentric (adj.)

1550s, from Middle French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective; see eccentric (n.)). Of persons, figurative sense of "odd, whimsical" first recorded 1620s. "Eccentric is applied to acts which are the effects of tastes, prejudices, judgments, etc., not merely different from those of ordinary people, but largely unaccountable and often irregular ..." [Century Dictionary].

eccentric (n.)

early 15c., "eccentric circle or orbit," originally a term in Ptolemaic astronomy, "circle or orbit not having the Earth precisely at its center," from Middle French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective), from Greek ekkentros "out of the center" (as opposed to concentric), from ek "out" (see ex-) + kentron "center" (see center (n.)). Meaning "odd or whimsical person" attested by 1824.

June 4 [1800].--Died in the streets in Newcastle, William Barron, an eccentric, well known for many years by the name of Billy Pea-pudding. [John Sykes, "Local Records, or Historical Register of Remarkable Events which have Occurred Exclusively in the Counties of Durham and Northumberland, Town and County of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and Berwick Upon Tweed," Newcastle, 1824]

Eccentricity.

Eccentric Math Genius Ditches Russia for Sweden.

Gal susimanė genytis?

Mathematician Grigory Perelman, famous for solving a Millennium Prize Problem and turning down the award, has moved to Sweden, a Russian newspaper reported.

Perelman led a reclusive life with his mother in her apartment in St. Petersburg in recent years.

The man who once turned down $1 million had no job and no income and subsisted on his mother's pension, Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid said Thursday.

Perelman, 48, hit the public spotlight after he proved the Poincare conjecture, one of the seven most important problems in modern mathematics.

His proof, published in 2002-2003, earned him the prestigious Fields Medal and a prize of $1 million, but he turned both down.

In rare media statements, Perelman, who held research positions in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, explained his decision as being down to disappointment in the math community.

Perelman, 48, hit the public spotlight after he proved the Poincare conjecture, one of the seven most important problems in modern mathematics.

The academic eventually grew tired of the situation and scored a job with an unspecified Swedish firm working in nanotechnologies, the paper said.

Abba?

Abba?

Interest.

Interest?