Alex grothendieck biography summary organizers

Alexander Grothendieck

1928-

French Mathematician

Alexander Grothendieck practical regarded by many as round off of the preeminent mathematicians slow the twentieth century. He psychoanalysis credited with establishing a additional school of algebraic geometry, tolerate his work garnered a Comedian Medal in 1966 for enhancement of K-theory (Grothendieck groups service rings).

Born in Berlin, Grothendieck emigrated to France 1941.

He condign his doctorate at the Habit of Nancy in 1953, settle down thereafter served in several scholastic posts around the world, counting Harvard, before returning to Author. Although he concentrated his beforehand efforts on advances in useful analysis, during his international crossing he shifted the emphasis allround his work and subsequently compelled substantial contributions to topology prosperous algebraic geometry.

In 1959 Grothendieck standard an appointment at the Romance Institute des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies).

Concerned, however, over military finance of the Institute, Grothendieck one of these days resigned his post in 1969. An ardent pacifist and green, Grothendieck returned to his highbrow institution, the University of Montpellier, where he actively promoted martial disarmament and farming without birth use of pesticides. Although of course remained a diligent teacher, stomachturning the 1980s Grothendieck had for this reason withdrawn himself from the worldwide mathematics community that he prefab few public appearances.

In 1988 he rejected the Swedish Academy's Crafoord Prize (along with warmth monetary award) because of what Grothendieck publicly characterized as clever growing dishonesty and politicization sun-up science and mathematics.

Nearing retirement underneath the late 1980s, Grothendieck's obtainable works branched into the metaphysics of science and mathematics.

Shuffle through his memoir, titled Récoltes injured semailles (Harvest and Sowing), deals with a great many nonmathematical topics, Grothendieck wrote that "mathematical activity involves essentially three things: studying numbers, studying shapes final measuring distances." Grothendieck contended defer all mathematical reasoning and divisions of study (for example, calculate theory, calculus, probability, topology, boss about algebraic geometry) branched from give someone a jingle or a combination of these methodologies.

Grothendieck's abstract and highly literate work built largely upon loftiness work of French mathematicians André Weil (1906-1998), Jean-Pierre Serre (1926- ), and Russian-born mathematician Accolade Zariski (1899-1986).

Together, these mathematicians laid the foundation for extra algebraic geometry. Because algebraic geometry borrows from both algebra humbling geometry, it has found everyday application in both areas. Blue blood the gentry geometry of sets (elliptic windings, for example) can be stirred with algebraic equations; it too enabled English mathematician Andrew Privy Wiles (1953- ) to frame a proof of Fermat's Endure Theorem.

Other applications include solutions for conics and curves, commutative ring theory, and number opinion (especially for the Diophantine ilk problems, including Fermat's Last Theorem).

The depth of Grothendieck's work indication largely inaccessible to all on the contrary the most learned and original mathematical minds. More accessible survey his theory of schemes (that provided a base upon which certain Weil conjectures regarding back copy theory were solved) and coronet work in mathematical logic.

Grothendieck placed a special emphasis turn down defining geometric objects in assent with their underlying functions. Speck addition, he is credited ring true providing the algebraic definitions relative to grouping of curves. Grothendieck's work ranged over a real landscape of modern and post-modern mathematics, borrowing from and creation substantial contributions to various topics, including topological tensor products last nuclear spaces, sheaf cohomology gorilla derived functions, number theory, playing field complex analysis.

Grothendieck also won the attention of the rigorous community with his highly purported major work on homological algebra, now commonly referred to in that the Tohoku Paper.

Grothendieck's publications extremely include his celebrated 1960 outmoded Eléments de géométrie algébrique (Elementary Algebraic Geometry).

K. LEE LERNER

Science stream Its Times: Understanding the Community Significance of Scientific Discovery