A (very) Brief History of Alexander Grothendieck

In this episode, we cover the history of 20th century mathematician Alexander Grothendieck, most notable for being the father of modern algebraic geometry. He is considered by many to be the greatest mathematician of the 20th century.
As per usual, I don't go too deeply into the mathematics, largely just covering his history. Hope you enjoy!
NOTE (2022-06-08): The photo I claim to be Léon Motchane is actually Robert Oppenheimer. Motchane is the man to the right in this photo: www.ihes.fr/wp...
Sources: docs.google.co...
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[@raphaellago5071]

what a coincidence, when i start studying the life of Alexander Grothendieck you post this video. Thank you

[@gogigaga1677]

INCREDIBLE WORK. REALLY WELL DONE SIMPLE AND DETAILED AT THE SAME TIME WELL DONE.( The only little hic up is using Oppenheimer's photo when you talked about Motchane.)

[@moderndaymath]

re oppenheimer: yeah I made note of this in the vid description 😄

[@gucker]

Wow, I knew nothing about Grothendieck; what a great man! Thank you for this and the other your videos!

[@reimannx33]

Living in primal conditions and on a diet of bean soup - a mathematician's mathematician.

[@adityadhardwivedi634]

I am leaving this comment here so to commemorate myself about the time, I got to know about Grothendieck. I am joining college in STEM courses. I will sure be interested o know about his immense contributions to Mathematics. Till now, from my humane perspective, I got to know about his disturbing intial schooling in evil Nazi era. I feel very sad of those immense souls who perished in several Man-made catastrophes.

[@NothingMaster]

An excellent presentation, but why, why in the name of all good numbers, did you have to show Oppenheimer’s picture as Léon Motchane?!

[@moderndaymath]

because mistakes xD

[@ronaldrussel1158]

Pure genius:-))

[@natepolidoro4565]

What a great channel.

[@lilmikeytheskater]

Can anyone help direct me to his “philosophical meditations”? I’ve found some incomplete English translations of “Récoltes et Semailles” and the entire French version, but it’s left me wanting more.

[@comptonGANGBANG]

LEGEND

[@elhaddji]

Very charming french words pronunciation 😉

[@moderndaymath]

French pronunciation is so difficult for me xD

[@elhaddji]

@@moderndaymath yeah, having myself learnt French from another (African language), I totally understand that. Great video by the way 👌

[@carlyellison8498]

x2 + y2 = 1

[@HenriDucrocq]

@@moderndaymath I loved the content, thanks - but next time get some help with pronunciation - speaking french doesn't sound exactly like vomiting :)

[@boomerzilean]

im sure this video is great, unfortunately i dont understand any of the names, places etc. because of your pronunciation.

[@feraudyh]

What on earth is Robert Oppenheimer doing at 13:16??

[@moderndaymath]

I chose the wrong part of the photo... Motchane should be on the right in the following photo. Thanks for pointing this out! www.ihes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/institut_histoire_fondation.jpg

[@ethanjensen7967]

You pronounced everything so well! (Except 'Abelian') :)

[@niamhgirling6000]

Not the French, sadly

[@kervilou5905]

genius

[@vishwash6093]

Man your German pronunciation is funny. 4:37

[@natepolidoro4565]

Our mothers have the same name.

[@cola3173]

i appreciate the commitment to a comical french accent, but these pronunciations are terrrrrible

[@l.w.paradis2108]

I know that French pronunciation is horribly difficult, and I don't expect accent-free French (millions of French don't have it), but really, there were just too many serious mistakes here. I'm sympathetic, really. I wish the narrator had access to someone to assist him. I'm sure it was not deliberate.

[@AP-pk6mk]

It wasn't deliberately done. Good video, but bad French pronunciation

[@malachizarathustra7301]

Why be critical of a person who is sincere and doing good? Snobbery? I love these posts and draw inspiration from them.

[@l.w.paradis2108]

@@malachizarathustra7301 Why not, snookums?

[@l.w.paradis2108]

@@malachizarathustra7301 Constructive criticism, sympathetically delivered.

[@revilokid]

@@l.w.paradis2108hmmmmmmm tbf I guess your message felt more like constructive criticism + sympathy which feels unauthentic. Got to make it feel more natural or people will miss interpret your intentions.

[@tmjz7327]

the french pronunciation is... extremely distracting

[@jontedeakin1986]

Can you please speak at a consistent speed

[@maciuikanikoda7809]

❤🇮🇱🇮🇱ii II ll 2 of us nous sommes en une fusionnée 6+6=12=3 >>>>>

[@AK-hf3pf]

French pronunciation is really annoying, it's incongruent with English, please don't do this in another video, it throws everything off.

[@DC-zi6se]

This guy is such a great inspiration of mine. He along with Von Neumann, Shannon and Kolmogorov, changed 20th century mathematics.

[@mrtertg2603]

I am not sure , whether it is legitimate to compare the work ( hence the mathematics ) of Grothendick to Von Neumann , Kolmogorov , Shannon etc ...?

[@stratovation1474]

My father's family survived the Russian Revolution and the Nazi occupation of Norway. Loved to play games including chess. Uncle survived Buchenwald lived to 102 died a year ago at 102. I knew Shannon who also loved chess and building things with his hands (and brain).

[@sontu5288]

It's not legitimate to compare Von Neumann, Shannon with Grothendick because Von Neumann was a Mathematical Physicist and Shannon an Applied Mathematician but Grothendick was a pure Mathematician. So there works Cannot be compared .

[@Happyduderawr]

Neumann is just about the least inspiring person to me. He was pure evil. The other's are kewl tho.

[@Mango_9934]

@@Happyduderawr sorry for late reply but what did he do?

[@abstractnonsense3253]

This is a great idea for a channel. I'll have to watch more brief biographies of mathematicians. One constructive criticism, if I may. Don't put so much emphasis on pronunciation. Even if the pronunciations of non english names were correct, emphasising them strongly would still take away from the flow of the story. It's more engaging to focus on the history and on how interesting these people were.

[@alexandersanchez9138]

Talent is doing something hard; genius is doing easily that which others find impossible. Grothendieck's style of the rising sea is genius distilled in mathematics.

[@Scarlett-mr5wk]

What a stupid quote

[@brandonwalker5011]

One of my professor's actually had the chance to meet Grothendieck before he went into seclusion!

[@johnroyle5926]

He came to McMaster University to give an afternoon colloquium lecture to the Math department in 1974, which I attended. Later, in the evening, he gave a talk on the Vietnam situation to a broader audience. He had a special aura when he spoke. (The European accent probably helped.) There were several doctoral students there who were studying topoi.

[@JUNGLEsausage]

Nice biography, but if I'm going to nitpick I would note that that was not Léon Motchane, but Oppenheimer in the picture.

[@blaiseporchez7191]

It's the right picture but the wrong person lol

[@supriyapaul5936]

What an extraordinary man !!Thank you very much for sharing so much information about him.

[@Cam-vv5xd]

Th quality of these videos foreshows a massive boom in your youtube influence. These are amazing vids!

[@srr1463]

What a beautiful story. What a great man. I wish I could say the same about his math... if I could understand it.

[@ayushkumarjais2483]

Nice video man I got first great biography of my math hero.

[@NikolajKuntner]

Thanks! There's some voice recordings of him on youtube.

[@johnryan2193]

He was so right about academia being a den of piratical stab in the back merchants.

[@lupo-femme]

If you can read Spanish, I greatly recommend Colombian mathematician and philosopher Fernando Zalamea's book on him titled "Grothendieck: Una guía a la obra matemática y filosófica" (Grothendieck: a guide to the mathematical and philosophical work) which is basically the first work to lay out a wide and general view of Grothendieck's writings and incomparable achievements, chronologically and in mathematical and philosophical depth. There's also Zalamea's "Synthetic Philosophy of Contemporary Mathematics" (from Urbanomic, in Spanish and English) which proposes a synthetic vision of the philosophy of mathematics with case studies of the practice of contemporary math, instead of the dominant analytic visions which tend to reduce everything to language. Zalamea's book is a an attempt to dismantle this scholastic and obsolete prejudice, and constantly refers to Grothendieck's toposes and sheaf's as an aid in this battle and in themselves marking a paradigm shift in the practice, vision, and foundations of mathematics.

[@lupo-femme]

He also offered a small course on Grothendieck's mathematical work and biography in Mexico (at the UNAM) kzbin.info/aero/PLiD-IJzweXR9ndmvpYnoqBJwAQFE778zv it's in Spanish.

[@zayna6668]

Bro ese libro se encuentra gratis no tengo dinero para comprar lo, saludos quiero intentar aprender algo sobre estás grandes mentes👋👍

[@nickyhekster2974]

Ouch, the pronunciation of French names is horrible.

[@j.w.osullivan429]

Anyone else here because of Cormac McCarthy's 'Stella Maris'?

[@rv.9658]

I'm here from the uploaded conversation between him and the SFI chairman (and apparently someone in The Passenger is Grothendieck's pupil?) Can't believe the man never came up in anything I'd read or watched previously.

[@j.w.osullivan429]

@@rv.9658 Yes indeed. Well worth reading both novels. :)

[@feraudyh]

The background music is Ralph Vaughn Williams' 5th symphony.

[@michelecastegnaro9206]

Great piece, but please, learn a little of french pronunciation! For those interested, Benjamin Labatut has published in "When we cease to understand the world" a fascinating chapter on Grothendieck that even more so paints a view on how complex a personality the mathematician had.

[@lina31415]

Very well-made video; thank you for making it.

[@jean-christopheMiquel-ef3ur]

French's prononciation isn't bad. Very interesting for us. Thanks for uploading!

[@ARBB1]

Your pronounciations are good, but it'd be certainly wise to also put the names in the screen.

[@prefabrication]

Amazing video! Especially to listen to when doing mathematics.

[@mbattlecoder]

We sometimes revere people like Grothendieck and Einstein but they were not always the best human beings and were not man enough to be good fathers despite their intellectual achievements.

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video. During the 1960s, Grothendieck published some researches by mimeograph. I have two of these lengthy mimeographed monographs. They seem quite interesting, but as my French is limited, I could not get significant benefit from them.

[@satnamo]

The only god is silent

[@M.Hilmi21]

try to learn to pronounce foreign words please !!

[@aftermath4096]

17:23 that's next level trash pronounciation

[@sudhir2854]

feels like someone vomiting.

[@feraudyh]

Many French names are quite mispronounced.

[@APOSTA-pz7vs]

Léon Motchane looks EXACTLY like J ROBERT Oppenheimer!!! Incredible! ;)

[@moderndaymath]

Uncanny, I know :P I have the link to the photo containing both of them in the description

[@slenbisoobeliut]

damn thanks mate)

[@ConnoisseurOfExistence]

A great man.

[@robertodacosta1535]

do one on norbert wiener or william james sidis or terence tao

[@standowner6979]

No!

[@lisabrowder481]

Me! All I can say is that I am very Confused and terrified of AI. Don't know if the book is too deep but I will forge onward.

[@davesabra4320]

having no internet to look things up and just inventing what he needed, I would have considered this impossible

[@pourtoukist]

I appreciate the effort you put in the correct prononciation of the french names

[@maxrang7303]

@13:15 That's Oppenheimer, not Motchane.

[@nunoalexandre6408]

Alexander Grothendieck my Inspiration!!!!!!!!!

[@thecaprio5663]

Kudos for the pronunciation

[@mosesfuentes7234]

Bro your channel is awesome.

[@haroldhamburgler]

13:10 You say Léon Motchane, but display a picture of Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer has no relevance to this section, so this seems to simply be a mistake.

[@haroldhamburgler]

14:24 Same mistake again

[@pratik_shrestha]

Take 57

[@moderndaymath]

super prime

[@pratik_shrestha]

@@moderndaymath Grothendiek Prime

[@nnaammuuss]

An almost 27 minutes long account of Grothendievk's life and work without a single mention of J. P. Serre in the connection? _That_ seemed weird!

[@Loglam]

He just does a cursory rewrite of the Wikipedia article and then reads it, so some details (important or otherwise) are left out.

[@nnaammuuss]

@@Loglam ok-key.. um, the wikipedia article must then be quite weird too.. 🤔

[@parakram7689]

Thanks. You heard my advice and made a video on grothendieck, the only child prodigy who did well, so I still have a chance, lol.

[@parakram7689]

@rwalser lol yeah

[@GilesMcRiker]

Grothiendik also had Jewish heritage?

[@zayna6668]

Si

[@lostindixie]

Thank you for your work.

[@maciuikanikoda7809]

He was a wise man. He understood, at the end of his life, how dangerous his discoveries could bedome. Imagine an evil Brianiac going through his ideas....he said it had no practical application..smart way to warn holy people... merci mon Âmi ❤ Mathieu

[@errgo2713]

You don't speak French so it's fine just to pronounce place names in English, like Paris as pa-ris rather than pa-ree. But thanks for this video.

[@arthurmair8901]

Man this guy is trying wayyy too hard with the French pronunciation. Dude, who gives a shit- this is too painful

[@lokeshparihar7672]

mentioned at 16:20 his work on physics and philosophical meditations on free choice and problem of evil , i couldn't find them. does anybody know where i can get them?

[@blokin5039]

Are you confused?

[@lokeshparihar7672]

@@blokin5039 confused about what? I would like to see his work on good and evil , if there is anything to learn from there.

[@lovaaaa2451]

Jesus christ how can it be so difficult for you anglophones to say names???? Who doesn't know that the accented é at the end of french words means you are supposed to pronounce the e?

[@robertschlesinger1342]

As an undergraduate freshman, I was enrolled in a French class but spoke French with a German accent. The professor would scream at my assault on the beautiful French language and at times would jump up and down. I dropped the class and studied Russian as my language requirement. During the Cold War, those studying Russian were suspected by some to be Soviet sympathizers. French is a beautiful language but can be difficult for outsiders to pronounce. Many early Russian mathematicians published in French, the language often used by Russian aristocracy and intelligencia.

[@jinjunliu2401]

Could ask you the same thing but for a different language that you're not so familiar with, say german or dutch. There are often sounds that require movements that you have never had to do, which make them very difficult to do at a later age.