The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician
"Extremely readable recollections of the author... A rare testimony of a period of the history of 20th century mathematics. Includes very interesting recollections on the author's participation in the formation of the Bourbaki Group, tells of his meetings
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Andre Weil The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician Translated from the French by J ennifer Gage
Springer Basel AG
Author's address Prof. Or. Andre Weil Institute for Advanced Study School of Mathematics Princeton, NJ 08540, USA This work was originalIy published as: Souvenirs d'apprentissage; Basel: Birkhăuser 1991. AII illustrations were kindly provided by Professor A. Weil, Princeton.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weil, Andre, 1906[Souvenirs d'apprentissage. EnglishJ The apprenticeship of a mathematician / Andre Weil; translated from the French by Jennifer Gage. Translation of: Souvernirs d'apprentissage . Includes index . ISBN 978-3-0348-9707-5 ISBN 978-3-0348-8634-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-0348-8634-5 1. Weil, Andre, 19062. Mathematicians-France-Biography. 1. Title QA29.W455A3 1992 510' .92 - dc20 Deutsche Bibliothek Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Weil, Andre: The apprenticeship of mathematician / Andre Weil. Transl. from the French by Jennifer Gage. - Basel ; Boston; Berlin : Birkhăuser, 1992 Franz. Ausg. u.d.T.: Weil, Andre: Souvenirs d'apprentissage ISBN 978-3-0348-9707-5
This work is subject to copyright. AII rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concemed, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks. Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law where copies are made for other than private use a fee is payable to "Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort", Munich.
© 1992 Springer Basel AG Originally published by Birkhauser Verlag Basel in 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992 ISBN 978-3-0348-9707-5
Translator's acknowledgments
I am grateful for the continuing support and encouragement of Rosanna Warren. For assistance with mathematical terminology my thanks go to Thanasis Kehagias - a true scion of Bourbaki. Finally, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Weil himself for his patient and generous assistance. J.G.
Table of Contents
Foreword
11
Chapter I
Growing Up
13
Chapter II
At the Ecole Normale
35
Chapter III
First Journeys, First Writings
45
Chapter IV
India...........
61
Chapter V
Strasbourg and Bourbaki
93
Chapter VI
The War and I: A Comic Opera in Six Acts. Prelude . . . . . Finnish Fugue . . . . Arctic Intermezzo .. Under Lock and Key Serving the Colors. A Farewell to Arms .
123 123 129 135 138 151 166
Chapter VII The Americas; Epilogue .
175
Index of Names . . . . . . . . . . . . .
193
CONIUGIS DILECTAE MANIBUS
Pero nadie guerra mirar tus ojos porgue te has muerto para siempre. FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
11
Foreword
My life, or at least what deserves this name - a singularly happy life, its diverse vicissitudes withal - is bounded by my birth on May 6, 1906, and the death on May 24, 1986, of my wife and companion Eveline. If she figures rather little in these pages which I dedicate to her, it is not that she did not count for much in my life and thought; on the contrary, she was so intimately a part o
