<math>n=4 \ </math> was proved in 1981 by Michael Freedman with his theorem on Casson handles, for which he shared a Fields medal with Andrew Casson, who had pioneered study in this area. Freedman's theorem was essentially a strengthening of the results of Smale's cobordism theorem, obtained at the expense of weakening the premises. | <math>n=4 \ </math> was proved in 1981 by Michael Freedman with his theorem on Casson handles, for which he shared a Fields medal with Andrew Casson, who had pioneered study in this area. Freedman's theorem was essentially a strengthening of the results of Smale's cobordism theorem, obtained at the expense of weakening the premises. |