I like this site of Mathematicians' biographies with some occasional quoted segments for extra flavor.
I also like how Serre wrote a book on linear representations of symmetry groups, because his wife needed a good exposition of the subject for her work on quantum chemistry, and that Serre described that as "fullfiling his duty as a husband" :-P
> I did not like, and did not understand, epsilons and deltas.
It's nice to have this perspective validated by someone like Serre! I felt like I was missing something when I first encountered that formalism. In fact, all of my introductory calculus classes sucked and turned me off of math for a few years.
Cauchy is the one who introduced rigor to calculus with the formalization of limits, including epsilons and deltas, a full century after Leibniz and half a century after Euler.
I'm reading and liking his book just called "Trees" (some bites), it is about group actions on trees, written in the '80. It talks about the modular group among others, the tree action also being used in Shai Haran work on the "real" prime (if the AIs let us dream the old way about classic problems). Serre et al graph of groups idea is very categorical. He could well have been present in the very seminars when Grothendiek was breweing what is now called the Grothendiek construction (absurdly, since G was a serial constructor). That wraps that graph of groups thing.
Serre wasn't there, but did a talk over Zoom from Switzerland where he now lives. I wasn't there either, but followed (and enjoyed) his talk over the YouTube stream. This was both a reminiscence of the mathematics of the 50s, and reflections on the role of counterexamples in mathematics.
Fun facts: Serre is still the youngest mathematician to be awarded the Fields medal, at 27. And Serre still publishes mathematics papers, the last one in 2025 (he was 99). A volume V of his Collected Papers (1998-2025) was published this summer by Springer. What a career!
on slightly related note of longevity - Fred Haise, one of three Apollo 13 astronatuts celebrated 92nd birthday day before yesterday, Jim Lovell died at 97 and only one who lived short life was Jack Swigert who died at 51 (respiratory failure)
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[ 1.5 ms ] story [ 26.1 ms ] threadI also like how Serre wrote a book on linear representations of symmetry groups, because his wife needed a good exposition of the subject for her work on quantum chemistry, and that Serre described that as "fullfiling his duty as a husband" :-P
It's nice to have this perspective validated by someone like Serre! I felt like I was missing something when I first encountered that formalism. In fact, all of my introductory calculus classes sucked and turned me off of math for a few years.
> AI told me that, among my books, this is the most difficult to read for students. I write for mathematicians, not for students.
Gépété raté.
Smartphones prevent most teenagers of this era to read a book. This may apply to lots of adults.
I'm looking forward to Dario's essay begging for regulating the use of AI on education.
Oh wait, that goes against his economic interest.
Serre wasn't there, but did a talk over Zoom from Switzerland where he now lives. I wasn't there either, but followed (and enjoyed) his talk over the YouTube stream. This was both a reminiscence of the mathematics of the 50s, and reflections on the role of counterexamples in mathematics.
Fun facts: Serre is still the youngest mathematician to be awarded the Fields medal, at 27. And Serre still publishes mathematics papers, the last one in 2025 (he was 99). A volume V of his Collected Papers (1998-2025) was published this summer by Springer. What a career!