Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Alexander Grothendieck has died

liberation.fr

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 59 posts

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#31

Post by mililani »

joaorico wrote: post #12
joaorico wrote: post #11

Here's one of his staggering quotes [1], worth reading through: "In those critical years I learned how to be alone. [But even] this formulation doesn't really capture my meaning. I didn't, in any literal sense learn to be alone, for the simple reason that this knowledge had never been unlearned during my childhood. It is a basic capacity in all of us from the day of our birth. However these three years of work in iso…

If you know french this whole part of the Récoltes et Semailles is worth reading: "2.2. L’importance d’être seul Quand j’ai finalement pris contact avec le monde mathématique à Paris, un ou deux ans plus tard, j’ai fini par y apprendre, entre beaucoup d’autres choses, que le travail que j’avais fait dans mon coin avec les moyens du bord, était (à peu de choses près) ce qui était bien connu de "tout le monde",…

Can someone translate this?

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#33

Post by Natsu »

joaorico wrote: post #11

Here's one of his staggering quotes [1], worth reading through: "In those critical years I learned how to be alone. [But even] this formulation doesn't really capture my meaning. I didn't, in any literal sense learn to be alone, for the simple reason that this knowledge had never been unlearned during my childhood. It is a basic capacity in all of us from the day of our birth. However these three years of work in iso…

> at the lycée and at the university

For anyone wondering, lycée is high school in French.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#34

Post by pfortuny »

May he rest in peace. His honest fight against war (teaching in Hanoi while bombings were going on, leaving the IHES after learning that NATO supported it, etc.) are an example of honesty. One may disagree with his positions (as I do) but we shall always be impressed by his acts.

I am obviously leaving the maths apart: we hope to stand on his shoulders, we and many future generations.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#35

Post by masklinn »

Igglyboo wrote: post #22
davmre wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those unfamiliar with the reference (from http://www.ams.org/notices/200410/fea-grothendieck-part2.pdf ): One striking characteristic of Grothendieck’s mode of thinking is that it seemed to rely so little on examples. This can be seen in the legend of the so-called “Grothendieck prime”. In a mathematical conversation, someone suggested to Grothendieck that they should consider a particular prime number. “You mean…

I'm not sure I understand what Mumford is alluding to, care to explain?

He was a very abstract mathematician, he built and worked with concepts and neither used nor needed numbers much.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#36

Post by ernogoldfinger »

jordigh wrote: post #4

Wow, I swear I was just wondering last night if he was still alive or not, as I was reading about him in Serge Lang's Algebra . Personal coincidence for me. May we never forget the Grothendieck prime, 57.

I was just thinking about him last night as well, but I was thinking about how cool he looks bald. Some people have a good looking skull.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#37

Post by dwenzek »

mililani wrote: post #31
joaorico wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you know french this whole part of the Récoltes et Semailles is worth reading: "2.2. L’importance d’être seul Quand j’ai finalement pris contact avec le monde mathématique à Paris, un ou deux ans plus tard, j’ai fini par y apprendre, entre beaucoup d’autres choses, que le travail que j’avais fait dans mon coin avec les moyens du bord, était (à peu de choses près) ce qui était bien connu de "tout le monde",…

Can someone translate this?

The first comment of joaorico quotes the translation of paragraphe 3rd,4th and 5th of the full quotation in french.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#38

Post by conformal »

while i am generally loathe to comment on HN, i consider it truly sad to see the passing of grothendieck.

he was a truly revolutionary mathematician and his contribution to the (hard) science of mathematics cannot be overstated. people who live on principle are rare, and those willing to go without salary as part of that protest are even rarer [1].

[1] - http://www.fermentmagazine.org/Quest88.html

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#39

Post by hokkos »

Grothendieck has been a point of interest in me since I read many years ago about his work about generalization of theories, his genius, his hermit life and that he chose to be stateless. Just last Sunday I saw an issue of a scientific magazine about him in a friend's house, and said I loved this guy, it is so strange and sad to learn about his death a few days after.

Re: Alexander Grothendieck has died

#40

Post by hokkos »

thebear wrote: post #29
dang wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, we'll take your word for that and change the HN title.

Thanks, I checked the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Grothendieck . It says in the first paragraph: 'He consistently spelt his first name "Alexander" rather than the French "Alexandre"' , and they give a reference for that.

The french wikipedia says he cared a lot about the spelling "Alexander", but signed his french work as "Alexadre".
Post reply on HN