Alexander Grothendieck, one of the most important mathematicians of the twentieth century, died at 86 on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. Grothendieck's main mathematical contributions were to the field ...

He is regarded as the greatest mathematician of the 20th century – someone who transformed thinking about spaces and numbers by his work in the field of algebraic geometry.

Alexander Grothendieck, on left. Konrad Jacobs, via Wikimedia Commons Alexander Grothendieck, one of the most important mathematicians of the twentieth century, died at 86 on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014.