Modified page

Texts by A. Grothendieck no longer available as per his demand, with the exception of issues of the newsletter Survivre et Vivre (see below)

Biographical information

• The first volume, Anarchie (in German) of a biography-in-progress of Alexander Grothedieck's life entitled Wer is Alexander Grothendieck? Anarchie, Mathematik, Spiritualität, has now appeared in print. Anarchie, by Winfried Scharlau (scharla@math.uni-muenster.de) can be purchased for a price of 12.00 euros plus postage, directly from the author. Other related texts by Scharlau are also available online.
• A brief timeline of Grothendieck's life
• Ein kurzer Lebenslauf von Alexander Grothendieck (German)   (by W. Scharlau)
• Grothendieck’s entry in the Wikipedia Wikipedia Grothendieck article
• Grothendieck’s entry at the MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive MacTutor Grothendieck bio

Texts and links concerning Grothendieck's life, work and writings

• The Camp de Rieucros where Grothendieck and his mother spent part of the war   On November 12, 1938 the law concerning 'undesirables' was passed; among others, all Germans residing in France were to be interned in special camps. Alexander Grothendieck (aged 12 or 13) was interned in Rieucros together with his mother. His father was in the Camp du Vernet for men, whereas Alexander was allowed to remain with his mother in the women's camp of Rieucros.
• Camp du Vernet Link to the Camp du Vernet where Grothendieck's father Sascha Schapiro was interned, and from which he was deported to Auschwitz in 1942
• A few photos of the Camp du Vernet, then and now
• La Guespy and Chambon-sur-Lignon  La Guespy was the Home for Jewish children run by Protestants in the village of Chambon-sur-Lignon during and after World War II. They saved countless Jewish children from Nazi roundups. Grothendieck spent the years 1943-45 at La Guespy and attended the Collège Cévénol while living there. He mentions this in La Clef des Songes, pp. 94-99.
• Alex at La Guespy   Brief description of Grothendieck as a teenager by the directress of La Guespy
• An interview with Jean Giraud Jean Giraud was one of Grothendieck's graduate students
• The IHES at 40 This article by Allyn Jackson discusses the history of the IHES, and includes a description of Grothendieck’s influence on the institute (albeit containing several errors).
• Comme Appelé du Néant -- As If Summoned From the Void   (Part I)    (Part II)      A very interesting two-part article by Allyn Jackson, from the Notices of the AMS (Part I is in Vol 51, No. 4, Part II is in Vol 51, No. 10), full of anecdotes about Grothendieck's youth and professional life.
• Découvrir et transmettre: la dimension collective des mathématiques dans Récoltes et Semailles d'Alexandre Grothendieck  by A. Herreman
• Notes on the life and work of Alexander Grothendieck   An 18-page biographical article by Piotr Pragacz, originally published in Polish in Wiadomo´sci Matematyczne 40 (2004).
• Alexandre Grothendieck  Mathematical and biographical sketch by Mauricio Garay.
•  Mais où est le génie des maths? biographical sketch by Roman Ikonikoff
•  Un mathématicien d'exception biographical sketch from La Citoyenneté
• Grothendieck no Brasil  Memories (in Portuguese) of Grothendieck's stay in São Paulo, 1952-1954, by Alberto de Azevedo. This article appeared in Matemática Universitária No.44.

• Transcription of Illusie's reminiscences  A text of the audio recording of Illusie above. of Grothendieck
• On Grothendieck's motive and Cezanne's motif, an article in Chinese by Kejian Xu, published in the Chinese journal "Mathematical Culture" (Vol. 3, No. 2, 12-33, 2012).

Texts concerning Grothendieck's parents

• Eine Frau   This 1500 page typed manuscript in German contains Hanka Grothendieck's memories of her life from 1900 to 1928, the year in which she conceived Alexander. The story is told in the third person. As far as fairly extensive research and conversations with friends, family members and other records (mostly conducted by W. Scharlau) have been able to confirm, the book appears to reflect the factual truth in every detail except for changing of the names of the family members: Lotte Babendeerde for Hanka Grothendieck, Redy Spenzer for Alfred Raddatz, Frigga (Ilka) for Frode (Maidi), Hans, Peter and Helmut for her brothers Fritz, Claus and Siegfried... Sascha Schapiro is called Sascha in the book.


• La Clef des Songes   The third chapter  Le voyage à Memphis (1): l'errance  contains further details about the lives of Grothendieck's parents, including some things not described in Eine Frau


• Eine Entdeckung: Hanka Grothendiecks autobiographischer Roman `Eine Frau' An essay in German on Eine Frau by Winfried Scharlau


• Grothendieck's Dream of the Rising Sea  A play by Adrian Heathcote, inspired by Grothendieck and his parents' lives

 

Survivre et Vivre. -- This bulletin of the ecological association of the same name, edited by C. Chevalley, A. Grothendieck and P. Samuel, appeared at regular intervals from 1970 to 1973 (?) Many of the articles were written and signed by Grothendieck.

Survivre No. 1: August 1970   No. 1,
Survivre Nos. 2-3: September-October 1970   Nos. 2-3,
Survivre No. 4: December 1970   No. 4,
Survivre No. 5: December 1970   No. 5,
Survivre No. 6: January 1971   No. 6,
Survivre No. 7: February-May 1971   No. 7,
Survivre No. 8: June-July 1971   No. 8 Part 1,   No. 8 Part 2
Survivre No. 9: August-September 1971   No. 9,
Survivre No. 10: October-November 1971   No. 10,
Survivre No. 11: Spring 1971   No. 11,
Survivre No. 12: June 1972   No. 12,
Survivre No. 14: October-November 1972   No. 14,
Survivre No. 15: January-February 1973   No. 15,
Survivre No. 16: undated   No. 16,
Survivre No. 19: undated   No. 19,

Bulletins de Liaison de Survivre et Vivre. -- These are supplements to the issues of Survivre et Vivre above.

Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 1-5 preceded by a discussion of the nature of bulletins de liaisons    BL. 1-5.
Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 7-10    BL. 7-10.
Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 11-12    BL. 11-12.
Bulletin de Liaison Nos. 13-14    BL. 13-14.