Another notable recent death that may be of interest to readers of this blog is that of Alexander Grothendieck, who passed on 13 November. Grothendieck was a French (well, mostly stateless) mathematician of German origin and the winner of the 1966 Fields Medal who spent his last years in seclusion. His ideas have in recent times become more and more influential in both mathematical physics and in the philosophy of physics.
For more information on who Grothendieck was, see Winfried Scharlau’s ‘Who is Alexander Grothendieck, which appeared in the monthly Notices of the American Mathematical Society in September 2008 and can be found here.
