ABSTRACT
On 30th August 1952, a young mathematician, Nicolas Bourbaki, was given a home at the Ecole Normale in Paris. Although only eighteen, he was at the time already a published author. Bourbaki became probably the most famous imaginary mathematician of the modern era. Alexandre Grothendieck one of the Bourbaki members, is probably best remembered in mathematics for his invention of the ‘theory of schemes’ and ‘motives’. He developed this in his Elements de geeometrie algebrique, which he published in 1960 whilst based at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, France (IHES). Grothendieck’s father had Jewish background and both of his parents were active anarchists who partook in the Spanish Civil War, during which time they left Alexander in the care of a friend. Later on, his mother survived an internment camp during the Second World War and his father was sent to Drancy and from there to Auschwitz where he died in 1942.
