The Mysterious Disappearance of a Revolutionary Mathematician

[Astronuc]

Alexander Grothendieck was revered for revealing connections between seemingly unrelated realms. Then he dropped out of society.

By Rivka Galchen, May 9, 2022

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/...isappearance-of-a-revolutionary-mathematician

I've seen the name of Grothendieck mentioned various threads, but I didn't know much about him. Truly amazing and sad story.

Grothendieck’s work also survives as the structure in which much of math happens today. When Fermat’s Last Theorem was proved, by Andrew Wiles, in 1994, Grothendieck’s contributions to algebraic geometry were essential. Ravi Vakil said, “Whole fields of mathematics speak the language that he set up. We live in this big structure that he built. We take it for granted—the architect is gone.”

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/alexander-grothendieck-is-no-longer-with-us.781945/

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...nd-grothendiecks-standard-conjectures.242483/

 

[fresh_42]

Grothendieck is definitely one of the greatest mathematicians of the last century.

"Discovery is the privilege of the child: the child who has no fear of being once again wrong, of looking like an idiot, of not being serious, of not doing things like everyone else." ~ Alexander Grothendieck

Sad is a matter of viewpoint. Unusual, sure, but sad?

In an almost 600-page "letter" (Pursuing stacks, A la poursuite des champs, 1983) to Daniel Gray Quillen, who was involved in developing the K-theory initiated by Grothendieck, he showed interest in his theory of higher categories (his book Homotopical algebra from 1967), on the basis of which he also saw a new basis for topology (including his own vision of a generalization from the 1960s, the topos theory).

All in all, another example from the chapter: Genius and Madness.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Possibly he's having a beer with Ettore Majorana?

 

[pinball1970]

Possibly he's having a beer with Ettore Majorana?

Grigori Perelman was a little bit odd too. Did all the Poincaré stuff then refused the awards?
Did his lectures then went back to his mum's.

 

[Klystron]

Unworldly geniuses depend on friends, colleagues, and peers not only for acceptance but to understand and connect to community life. Betrayal and needless competition are antithetical to thoughtfulness.

...Grothendieck describes his approach to mathematics and his experiences in the mathematical community, a community that initially accepted him in an open and welcoming manner, but which he progressively perceived to be governed by competition and status. He complains about what he saw as the "burial" of his work and betrayal by his former students and colleagues...

 

[Hornbein]

Alexander Grothendieck went to live in Basque territory. It's a non-competitive society.

The Basque language is not Indo-European. It's a remnant of what was before the Aryans and their cattle moved in and changed everything.

 

[Astronuc]

Sad is a matter of viewpoint. Unusual, sure, but sad?

Yes, I'd would consider sad as in separation from parents, loss of father, abandonment of his wife and children, and then abandonment of a son by another woman.

Shortly after Grothendieck’s reunion with his parents, whom he hadn’t seen in six years, Sascha was sent to an internment camp outside the city. (He later died in Auschwitz.) The mother and child were sent to Rieucros, a camp in the south.

then at the end of the article

Grothendieck shed or burned most of his meagre possessions, but even at the end of his life he still had a painting that had been made of his father in the internment camp.

In the middle of the article:

n 1970, Grothendieck abruptly left. He left the I.H.E.S., he left the twelve to sixteen hours a day of thinking about math, he left his wife and his three children.

and later

He began dating a mathematician, Justine Skalba, whom he had met at a talk at Rutgers; soon afterward, she agreed to leave her studies and follow him. The commune, founded with friends, started with only four people, but others came and went, and sometimes meetings were held on Survivre issues which attracted up to a hundred people. Grothendieck sold sea salt and organic vegetables, but others called him “the bank,” because he was the source of all cash. The commune fell apart within a year. Skalba had a child. By the time the child, John, was two months old, she had left Grothendieck; John grew up having almost no relationship with his father and went on to study math at Harvard . . .

So, I would consider that sad, at least for the people he abandoned, despite his considerable accomplishments.

 

[pbuk]

Alexander Grothendieck went to live in Basque territory.

No he didn't, he lived in a village called Lasserre in the Ariège département which is about 200 kilometres to the east of what is normally considered Basque country. And the expression "Basque territory" is not correct (this area of French and Spanish territory can be referred to in English as "Basque country" or "the Basque region").

[the Basque region is] a non-competitive society.

No it isn't (please provide a reference for whatever it is you mean).

The Basque language is not Indo-European.

This at least is true...

It's a remnant of what was before the Aryans and their cattle moved in and changed everything.

...but as I understand it Proto-Indo-European (PIE) languages were introduced into Western Europe by the Kurgans, not the Aryans whose influence was towards the south and east into e.g. present-day Iran and India.

 

[fresh_42]

...but as I understand it Proto-Indo-European (PIE) languages were introduced into Western Europe by the Kurgans, not the Aryans whose influence was towards the south and east into e.g. present-day Iran and India.

.. plus Caucasus tribes like e.g. Georgians and Ossetians.

 

[MevsEinstein]

...but as I understand it Proto-Indo-European (PIE) languages...

No wonder they are pleasing to the tongue

 

[pinball1970]

There are some Mathematicians that had mental health issues. Some of these stories are very upsetting.
Beautiful minds that deserved a beautiful life they did not get.