The Genius of Alexander Grothendieck, the father of modern algebraic geometry:
Alexander Grothendieck was a mathematical genius who revolutionized algebraic geometry and influenced many other fields of pure mathematics. He was born in Berlin in 1928 to anarchist parents who had fled from Russia and Germany, respectively. He grew up in France, where he studied mathematics and became a leading figure at the Institut des hautes รฉtudes scientifiques (IHรS).
He received the Fields Medal in 1966 for his contributions to algebraic geometry, homological algebra, and K-theory. He developed a new abstract and general framework for geometry, using concepts such as schemes, topoi, cohomology, and motives. He also proved the Weil conjectures and generalized the Riemann-Roch theorem. He was known for his extraordinary intuition, ingenuity, and vision, as well as his eccentric and unconventional personality. He left IHรS in 1970 due to his political and ethical convictions, and later renounced his mathematical work and withdrew from the world. He spent the last decades of his life in seclusion in a small village in the Pyrenees, writing about philosophy, religion, and environmental issues.
He died in 2014 at the age of 86.
ALT Image source: Heidelberg Laureate Forum/