Why Did Grothendieck Decline the Crafoord Prize?

Alexander Grothendeick is a prodigious mathematician who is famous for many things. Among them are foundational mathematical discoveries in algebraic geometry, work on theoretical vector space, political activism, and the bold move of declining the Crafoord Prize. The Crafoord Prize, first established in 1980, was designed to help promote further research in mathematics, biosciences, astronomy, and geosciences. When offered the rewards and a substantial prize in 1988, however, Grothendeick refused. This entry will seek explain why.

Grothendeick provided a very specific and courteous letter declining the reward, and in it cited several reasons why he felt he could not receive the reward. They are as follows.

First, Grothendeick states that he does not need the money, and that he had more than enough from his pension to care for himself and his children.

Second, that he did not feel his work could accurately be declared as foundational at the time of the award. He stated that he felt time was the only “true test” of ideas such as these, and that the community had yet to see if his ideas were “fertile.”

Third, Alexander noted that those who generally received these awards were already financially well off, and that the prizes were thus helping the wealthy accumulate wealth. In one of his clear and courageous political statements, he declared in his letter: “Is it not clear that great wealth for some is possible only at the cost of the needs of others?” Grothendeick considers himself a class struggle anarchist.

Fourth, Grothendeick stated that accepting the award would be an act of acceptance of the scientific community as it stood. He stated in his letter that scientific and mathematic discovery had become deeply involved in constant acts of thefts between researchers, and a general degradation of ethics. He stated that this scientific outlook was not merely offensive to him, but essentially unhealthy and “suicidal.”

Grothendeick placed greatest emphasis on this last reason, making his declination a declaration on what the scientific community had become, and what he hoped it would evolve to be in the future.

Filed Under: Alexander Grothendieck, Mathematics Tagged With:

Beyond Mathematics: Grothendieck’s Political Activism

Famous mathematician Alexander Grothendieck may have published many more scientific works if it wasn’t for his withdrawal from the scientific community in 1970. This withdrawal was not one of exhaustion or completion, however, but one of activism. Grothendieck’s actions were calculated, and were all part of a much larger picture of radical political activism that took a high priority throughout his life.

Grothendieck’s parents provided the foundation of his political outlook. Both his Jewish father and German mother were anarchists, and left the country when Alexander was just a child, in part to fight in the Spanish civil war. During his teenage years, Grothendieck lived in sheltered camps to escape from the Nazi faction. His father was not as successful, and died in Auschwitz.

These significant events throughout his childhood formed the foundation for his radical views. He thought of himself as a radical anarchist, with strong pacifistic sentiments. This meant that he stood in strong opposition to both capitalist America’s actions in Vietnam and Soviet expansion. He did not stop at simply believing his convictions to be correct, however. Among other political protests, Grothendieck taught lectures in the forests surrounding the Vietnamese city of Hanoi while it was actively being bombed.

It was this political activism that led him to leave the IHES, the group funding most of his research. He left stating the cause for his departure was discovering the military funding, and some military applications, or research at IHES. While this is likely true, it is also not the full story. Due both to his background and his views as a class struggle anarchist, Grothendeick always related very deeply to the poor and downtrodden, and his presence in the scientific community felt caging.

After his departure from IHES, Grothendieck worked as a professor at the University of Montpellier until 1988. He continued writing on politically heated topics, and launched direct criticisms of the scientific community for what he viewed as its ethical compromises. These same ethical compromises prompted him to publicly decline the Crafoord Prize in 1988. His writings became minimal after 1991, but still contained political overtones.

Filed Under: Alexander Grothendieck Tagged With: ,