Even assuming he's completely non-materialistic, I find it hard to imagine there's nothing Perelman could spend the money on that would make him even a little happier
What you're saying makes perfect sense in the context of our (modern Western) attitude to money, but Perelman has always struck me as a throwback to an older conception of these things. He might well regard money -- or at least money obtained in this way -- as intrinsically incompatible with pure intellectual life. If accepting the money would entail losing something that he values more, his refusal is not so strange.
It's also the case that Russian intellectuals are -- or at least used to be -- biased more in this direction than Western ones. Which reminds me of one of the greatest and funniest things ever said on the subject, Saltykov-Shchedrin on the difference between Russia and the West: "A Westerner sells his soul to the devil; a Russian just gives his soul to the devil."
What you're saying makes perfect sense in the context of our (modern Western) attitude to money, but Perelman has always struck me as a throwback to an older conception of these things. He might well regard money -- or at least money obtained in this way -- as intrinsically incompatible with pure intellectual life. If accepting the money would entail losing something that he values more, his refusal is not so strange.
It's also the case that Russian intellectuals are -- or at least used to be -- biased more in this direction than Western ones. Which reminds me of one of the greatest and funniest things ever said on the subject, Saltykov-Shchedrin on the difference between Russia and the West: "A Westerner sells his soul to the devil; a Russian just gives his soul to the devil."