Alexander Grothendieck was a titan of 20th century mathematics and won two of the most prestigious prizes in the field over 20 years apart. However, the last 25 years of his life was spent in near total seclusion at his farm in the south of France where he became committed to radical environmentalism and an icon to the green movement. When he died, tens of thousands of pages of notes were discovered and instantly became a desired commodity among major universities hoping to use the notes to glean some insight into one of the greatest minds of the modern era. But these notes are now at the center of a legal dispute between his children who are objecting to the valuation given to the notes by the French National Library as well as a claim on 20,000 pages by the University of Montpellier after they were donated by a former pupil of Grothendieck. Currently, the notes in the possession of the children are on deposit with a manuscript expert for a counter valuation with a trial over ownership expected later this year.
See John Lichfield, Alexander Grothendieck: Legal battle over ‘scribblings’ of 20th century’s ‘greatest mathematician’, The Independent, January 15, 2016.
Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
