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Essay about Alex Grothendiek

Decent Essays

M. Hamilton
Honors Math II
2nd period
Honors Paper on Alex Grothendiek As stated in the book, “A Strange Wilderness” Alex Grothendieck was born on March 28, 1928 in Berlin, Germany. He was one of the famous mathematicians born in the 20th century. Alex began to love mathematics in 1942, when he attended a secondary school in Chambon, France. When World War II ended, he went to University of Montpellier, wanting to continue his fascination with math and become a mathematics teacher. He received a scholarship after three years in 1948 and moved to Paris, to the University of Nancy and worked on functional analysis. In 1957, he began to work on algebraic geometry and simple algebra. (The Famous People)
The Institute of Advanced …show more content…

Grothendiecks’ parents moved away from him in 1933 to fight in the Spanish civil war. That left him in Wilham, Heydorn. He later found out his father was living in a concentration camp during World War II, while he was attending school. He never heard anything more on his mother. (The Famous People website.) In the mathematical years of Grothendiek, he did not face many challenges in his life. One of the main reasons why he left IHES, was because of military funding problems. After all, Grothendieck was the son of an antimilitarist anarchist and he grew up very poor. This is why he grew up having compassion for the poor. He also left because he got so tired which led to the problem of losing interest in what he was teaching at IHES. By the late 1960’s, he became interested in science. David Ruelle, a physician at IHES, claimed that Alex Grothendieck had come to him later on asking him about the study of physics. (Astrology and Horoscope Website.) He was also into talking about the war, politics, and the Military. He did agree to attend lectures given about mathematics, but while he was there, he went into debates about the war. All of his followers became irritated with him. He then wanted to destroy everything he had ever written about math. (The Amazing Grothendiek.) After his last year at IHES, He applied to get a position at the College De

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