"Deligne’s method was totally perpendicular to Grothendieck’s: he knew every trick of his master’s trade by heart, every concept, every variant. His proof, given in 1974, is a frontal attack and a marvel of precision, in which the steps follow each other in an absolutely natural order, without surprises. Those who heard his lectures had the impression, day after day, that nothing new was happening–whereas every lecture by Grothendieck introduced a whole new world of concepts, each more general than the one before–but on the last day, everything was in place and victory was assured. Deligne knocked down the obstacles one after the other, but each one of them was familiar in style. I think that this opposition of methods, or rather of temperament, is the true reason behind the personal conflict which developed between the two of them. I also think that the fact that “John, the disciple that Jesus loved” wrote the last Gospel by himself partly explains Grothendieck’s furious exile that Grothendieck has imposed upon himself."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from BelgiumPeople from BrusselsWolf Prize in Mathematics laureatesMathematicians from BelgiumFields Medalists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
{{Citation
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pierre_Deligne
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Pierre Deligne
5 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Pierre Deligne →
Related Quotes
"The nice thing about mathematics is doing mathematics."
"From Grothendieck] and his example, I have also learned not to take glory in the difficulty of a proof: difficulty me…"
"In Récoltes et Semailles, Grothendieck counts his twelve disciples. The central character is Pierre Deligne, who comb…"
"Usually mathematicians are either theory builders, who develop tools, or problem-solvers, who use those tools to find…"
"Thonissen was an intrepid worker, a firm Christian, an upright and simple man, with just a touch of artless vanity, t…"
"The national culture of Belgium is a synthesis, if I may so call it, where one finds the genius of two races — the Ro…"
"The history of mankind may have as many divisions as human life has aspects or sides. Its noblest form is the history…"
"AI is already happening today and it is pervasive, often invisibly embedded in our day-to-day tools and as part of co…"
"Darwin and Freud dethroned our beliefs of exceptionalism, our feelings of superiority, and our fantasies of control; …"
"Machine learning can be used to recognize faces (and even recognize emotions based on analysis of the faces), make se…"