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Sorry for that this is not a real question. But I thought people would like to know.

Alexandre Grothendieck died today: http://www.liberation.fr/sciences/2014/11/13/alexandre-grothendieck-ou-la-mort-d-un-genie-qui-voulait-se-faire-oublier_1142614

DamienC
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    The best version I can think of is a reference request to his biography, or some other source that isn't Wikipedia. – The Masked Avenger Nov 14 '14 at 00:16
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    "What was Grothendieck's greatest contribution to mathematics overall?" Bit subjective, perhaps. – David Roberts Nov 14 '14 at 00:20
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    For those standing largely outside of algebraic geometry, and without an $\epsilon$ of disrespect: Which characteristics led Grothendieck to being so revered? – Joseph O'Rourke Nov 14 '14 at 00:36
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    @JosephO'Rourke: IMHO one of the conditions was the prominent status of algebraic geometers among other mathematicians for so many years. – Michael Nov 14 '14 at 00:42
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    @JosephO'Rourke solving a lot of problems in functional analysis, then once moved over to algebraic geometry, completely revolutionising the field (no pun intended) so that the Weil conjectures could be proved. Invented a lot of category theory just on the side. Then rethinking, after he left his job at the IHES, the foundations of homotopy theory and higher category theory. For this, see: Pursuing Stacks, Les Derivateurs, still unpublished, but containing ideas that lead to e.g. Voevodsky's proof of the Milnor and Bloch-Kato conjectures using motivic homotopy theory. – David Roberts Nov 14 '14 at 01:12
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    @JosephO'Rourke And some good comments here: http://www.thebigquestions.com/2014/11/13/the-rising-sea/ by Steve Landsburg "He dominated pure mathematics not just through the force of his ideas — ideas that seemed eons ahead of everyone else’s — but through the force of his personality. When, around 1960, he announced his audacious plan to solve the notoriously difficult Weil conjectures by first rewriting the foundations of geometry, dozens of superb mathematicians put the rest of their careers on hold to do their parts. ... "(cont) – David Roberts Nov 14 '14 at 01:21
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    "...The project’s final page count, including the twelve volumes known as SGA (Seminaire de Geometrie Algebrique) and the eight known as EGA (Elements de Geometrie Algebrique) approached 10,000 pages. The force and clarity of Grothendieck’s unique vision scream forth from nearly every one of those pages, demanding that the reader see the mathematical world in a new and completely original way — a perspective that has proved not just compelling, but unspeakably powerful." – David Roberts Nov 14 '14 at 01:21
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    The amount of mathematics just alluded to is the same order of magnitude as the classification of finite simple groups. This doesn't count thousands of pages written in the 1980s as I allude above. – David Roberts Nov 14 '14 at 01:22
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    Meta: http://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/1978/grothendiecks-passing – David Roberts Nov 14 '14 at 04:02
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    From Liang Kong's blog: Grothendieck on "innocence" (2013-09-08) "In our acquisition of knowledge of the Universe (whether mathematical or otherwise) that which renovates the quest is nothing more nor less than complete innocence. It is in this state of complete innocence that we receive everything from the moment of our birth. Although so often the object of our contempt and of our private fears, it is always in us. It alone can unite humility with boldness so as to allow us to penetrate to the heart of things, or allow things to enter us and taken possession of us." — Alexander Grothendieck – Xiao-Gang Wen Nov 14 '14 at 04:51
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    Also noted on meta.m.se, http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/questions/17330/death-of-grothendieck – Gerry Myerson Nov 14 '14 at 11:27
  • From ams.org: http://www.ams.org/news?news_id=2461 which contains the link of the article "Who is Alexander Grothendieck?" from AMS Notice. – Paul Nov 15 '14 at 02:11
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    We appreciate the sentiment and the intent, but after discussion between moderators, this question is being closed since it doesn't admit an answer, and because keeping it open means it will get bumped periodically to the front page. More at meta: http://meta.mathoverflow.net/a/1981/2926 – Todd Trimble Nov 15 '14 at 16:30
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    Obituary at the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/world/europe/alexander-grothendieck-math-enigma-dies-at-86.html – Gerry Myerson Nov 17 '14 at 04:03
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    In view of the positive response to David Roberts's comment pointing to my first blog post, I am moved (though with some trepidation about self-promotion) to point to the far more ambitious blog post here: http://www.thebigquestions.com/2014/11/17/the-generalist/ – Steven Landsburg Nov 19 '14 at 06:21
  • Steven, your blog post is an excellent summary of Grothendieck's approach to mathematics. BTW, can you suggest of any good reference (french or english) by Grothendieck himself, where he explains his philosophy in detail? (I have not encountered an explicit statement of it in his own monographs that I had read, but then again I have not read the vast majority of his unpublished work 1980+ directly, rather reading other later work that cites it and uses methods he first developed. I have read mostly his technical work, where the general approach is clear but not yet presented as a philosophy.) – Gottfried William Nov 23 '14 at 11:57
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    @Guidi: I think he discusses this with Serre in their correspondence (it should have been trabslated). He also mentions it in "Recoltes et Semailles" (only available in french, I'm afraid). – DamienC Nov 23 '14 at 13:24
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    I very much second the recommendations of the Grothendieck/Serre correspondence and Recoltes et Semailles. – Steven Landsburg Nov 23 '14 at 14:58
  • Under @JosephO'Rourke 's http://meta.mathoverflow.net/questions/1978/grothendiecks-passing you may find a comment about NYT article. – Włodzimierz Holsztyński Nov 25 '14 at 08:44
  • Appreciation by Edward Frenkel, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/science/the-lives-of-alexander-grothendieck-a-mathematical-visionary.html – Gerry Myerson Nov 28 '14 at 05:00
  • Can this question be migrated to MetaStackExchange? –  Mar 29 '23 at 14:59
  • @JovanRadenkovic the question is too old to be migrated, but it is also off-topic on Meta SE. It has been posted on Meta MO though. – Andrew T. Mar 30 '23 at 01:12

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