Who is Alexander Grothendieck? Anarchy, Mathematics, Spirituality, Solitude: A Biography

by Winfried Scharlau

Alexander Grothendieck is one of the most important mathematicians of the twentieth century; in particular, he revolutionized the subject of algebraic geometry. His life contains unique drama. Within the project of this biography in three parts, the first volume deals with his parents and describes his origins, youth, education and student years. His father, Alexander Shapiro (1890-1942) was a Russian-Jewish Anarchist who was already involved in revolts against the Tsarist regime by the age of fifteen, was involved in the Russian Revolution during the First World War, and took part in the Spanish Civil War, before losing his life in Auschwitz. He earned his living as a street photographer. Grothendieck’s mother, Hanka Grothendieck (1900-1957) broke away from bourgeois life as a young woman and worked temporarily as an actress and as a journalist. Grothendieck himself spent his earliest years with his parents in Berlin, and then lived with a foster family in Hamburg. In France he was interned in various camps, but in 1941 he was able to start attending a high school, the Collège Cevenol in Le Chambon sur Lignon, where he passed his Baccalaureate. In 1945 he studied mathematics in Montpellier, and then continued in Paris and in Nancy, where he began his meteoric ascent.

Genres: Biography, Mathematics

204 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2011

About the author

Winfried Scharlau is a mathematician, professor emeritus at the University of Münster. He has been working on Grothendieck’s biography for some years. Besides several textbooks and numerous scientific articles he has also published two novels.

Reviews

[Nemalevich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Это очень круто собранный и очень неудачно использованный материал, в большей степени о родителях Гротендика и людях их круга., чем о нем самом. На треть книга состоит из фрагментов других текстов, через главу автор отвлекается на пересказ биографии какого-нибудь малозначительного персонажа, а то и просто человека, судьба которого в чем-то напоминает судьбу одного из героев (как про Дёблица). Глава про мемуары Ханки Eine Frau вообще оставила меня в недоумении - это попытка довольно топорного литературоведческого (!) разбора произведения, которое не опубликовано и, по-водимому, никогда опубликовано не будет - рукопись находится в частном владении. В процессе чтения нередко припоминаешь, что Шарлау - немецкий математик, и этим объяснять занудство повествования.

Все эти несуразицы не мешают заметить, что и Шурик Гротендик и его уважаемые родители были людьми болезненно самолюбивыми и не очень-то приятными.