Joshua wrote: << On 6/6/06, Ray Tayek <rtayek@comcast.net> wrote:

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/05/0440258

As some of the slashdot comments say, the conjecture was (probably) proved a couple years ago. The Chinese mathematicians appear to have done nothing more than explain the (already-published on ArXiV) proof a little more clearly. . . . . . .

...

One reason to suspend judgment is that the Chinese Xinhua News Agency quoted the Harvard differential geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau as having said that these Chinese mathematicians have put the finishing touch on the Poincare conjecture. As far as I know -- and I've made frequent inquiries -- this is the first time that an eminent U.S. mathematician has asserted that the Poincare conjecture has been proven. (On the other hand, Yau grew up in China and may not be entirely unbiased.) --Dan