Andr Weil

Andr Weil (May 6, 1906 August 6, 1998) was one of the most rilliant and influential mathemati!ians of the "0th !entury# $e made nota le ad%an!es in the areas of alge ra, num er theory, alge rai! geometry, differential geometry, to&ology, 'ie grou&s and 'ie alge ras, analysis, and history of mathemati!s# A su stantial &art of his resear!h was moti%ated y his efforts to &ro%e the (iemann hy&othesis regarding the )eros of the )eta fun!tion# $e dis!o%ered a &rofound !onne!tion etween to&ology and num er theory, and formulated the so*!alled +himura*,aniyama*Weil !on-e!ture on elli&ti! !ur%es# ,he !on-e!ture was used y Andrew Wiles as a lin. in the &roof of /ermat0s 'ast ,heorem# 1n 1992, Weil re!ei%ed 3a&an0s 4yoto 5ri)e, awarded for what he !alled the Weil 6on-e!tures# ,he !on-e!tures, formulated in 1928, arti!ulated his grand %ision of how arithmeti! and geometry should e lin.ed# Ale7andre 8rothendie!. and 5ierre 9eligne later &ro%ed the !on-e!tures, whi!h ha%e &ro%ided the &rin!i&les for modern alge rai! geometry and laid the foundation for the elements of !oding theory as an aid to the transmission of !om&uter data#

Weil was orn in 5aris, the son of 3ewish &arents# $e was a !hild &rodigy as was his younger sister, +imone# $e early e7hi ited &re!o!ious mathemati!al and &hilologi!al interests# $e thought of ma.ing a !areer of &hiloso&hy, ut after shining on an e7amination in the su -e!t without ha%ing done the re:uired reading, he !hanged his mind# $e reasoned that a field in whi!h ;one !ould do so well while arely .nowing what one was tal.ing a out was hardly worthy of res&e!t#< Most of his mathemati!al edu!ation was a!:uired at the =!ole >ormale +u&erieure in 5aris, whi!h he entered at the age of si7teen# 1t was while at the =!ole >ormale that Weil was introdu!ed to the Bhagavad-Gita, an e&i! 1ndian &oem, whi!h e!ame the foundation of his &ersonal &hiloso&hy#

9uring 19"?*"6, Weil s&ent si7 months in (ome with @ito @olterra and /ran!es!o +e%eri, e!oming familiar with the alge rai! geometry of 1talian mathemati!ians# $e s&ent &art of the ne7t year in 8ermany on a fellowshi& at 8Attingen, studying the num er theory of 8erman mathemati!ians# Weil re!ei%ed his 9#+!# in 19"8 from the Bni%ersity of 5aris for sol%ing a &ro lem !on!erning elli&ti! !ur%es that had een &ro&osed y $enri 5oin!ar# Weil s&ent the year 19"8*"9 doing his !om&ulsory military ser%i!e and left as a lieutenant in the reser%es# $e taught mathemati!s at the Aligarh Muslim Bni%ersity in 1ndia (19C0 to 19C"), at the Bni%ersity of Marseille (19C"*CC), followed y an a&&ointment with the Bni%ersity of +tras ourg (19CC to 19C9)#

Weil was !on%in!ed that with the e7!e&tion of 3a!:ues $adamard and =lie 6artan, his &rofessors in 5aris were out of tou!h with re!ent de%elo&ments in mathemati!s# 1n the 19C00s, together with $enri 6artan, Weil !o*founded a grou& of young /ren!h mathemati!ians from the =!ole >ormale, wor.ing under the name ;>i!olas Dour a.i#< ,he grou& was dedi!ated to the &rodu!tion of a !olle!ti%e wor., &ro%iding u&*to*date foundations for the whole of modern mathemati!al s!ien!e# 1ts founding mem ers in!luded $enri 6artan, 6laude 6he%alley, and 3ean 9ieudonn# After World War 11, other mathemati!ians were in%ited to -oin the grou&, in!luding +amuel Eilen erg, an e7!e&tion to the unwritten rule of restri!ting Dour a.i to /ren!hmen# Eilen erg was .nown to his friends of his youth as +"5", for +mart +ammy the 5olish 5rodigy# ,he Dour a.i grou& &rodu!ed %olume after %olume in the series Elements of Mathematics, in an attem&t to synthesi)e the !ontent of one mathemati!al su -e!t after another#

A!!ording to 6artan, y the end of the se%enties, Dour a.i0s method was understood, and many te7t oo.s were eing written in its style# 1n 198C Dour a.i &u lished the last of its 20 %olumesF IX

Spectral Theory# 6artan said y that time ;Dour a.i was a dinosaur, the head too far away from the tail#< 1n an arti!le on >i!olas Dour a.i, =milie (i!her !on!luded y saying, ;>ow after almost twenty years without a signifi!ant &u li!ation is it safe to say the dinosaur has e!ome e7tin!tG Dut sin!e >i!olas Dour a.i ne%er in fa!t e7isted, and was nothing ut a !le%er tea!hing and resear!h &loy, !ould he e%er e said to e e7tin!tG< 1nternational Dour a.i seminars are held three times a year, hosting o%er "00 mathemati!ians who listen to &resentations on to&i!s !hosen y Dour a.i#

,here are many legends surrounding the !hoi!e of the &seudonym ;>i!olas Dour a.i< for a !olle!tion of /ren!h mathemati!ians# 1t is said that the ins&iration !ame from an army offi!er of the /ran!o* 5russian war, 8eneral 6harles 9ennis +auter Dour a.i, who, at the age of 26, de!lined the offer to e!ome .ing of 8ree!e# Weil0s wife added the gi%en name ;>i!olas< for reasons no one remem ers# ,he founding mem ers and those who followed (whi!h num er etween ten and twenty at a time, with a mandatory retirement age of fifty), so en-oyed their -o.e that they ha%e gi%en Dour a.i a &ersonality and a history# 1t is said that Dour a.i was orn in the (mythi!al) !ountry of 5olda%ia# Weil0s offi!ial 1nstitute for Ad%an!ed +tudies0 iogra&hy omitted mention of his many awards and honors, listing him only as a ;Mem er, 5olda%ian A!ademy of +!ien!es#< Dour a.i is said to reside in >an!y, /ran!e, whi!h is fitting sin!e se%eral of the mathemati!ians who ha%e wor.ed under his name were asso!iated with the Bni%ersity of >an!y# When >i!olas Dour a.i was listed as author of ;,he Ar!hite!ture of Mathemati!s< in The American Mathematical Monthly (19?0), his home institution was gi%en as the ;Bni%ersity of >an!ago< (>an!y &lus 6hi!ago) for at that time Weil was on the fa!ulty of the Bni%ersity of 6hi!ago# 3ean 9ieudonn, Dour a.i0s !hief s!ri e from the eginning, on!e e7&lained how the grou&Hs !oo&erati%e %olumes get written# In!e a su -e!t is identified, one mem er is assigned to write a draft, whi!h is then &resented at a grou& meeting where it is !riti!i)ed mer!ilessly# ,he draft is then dis!arded and another mem er is re!ruited to write a new draft, !om&letely from s!rat!h,

mindful of the errors and mista.es of his &rede!essor# ,his &ro!ess is !ontinued until a draft is unanimously deemed worthy of &u li!ation# Ea!h mem er has %eto &ower, and a %eto means the &ro-e!t is a andoned#

9uring WW11, Weil was a !ons!ientious o -e!tor and fled to neutral /inland on!e war was de!lared# After the (ussian in%asion of /inland in 19C9, Weil was arrested on the a&&arently s&urious !harge of eing a (ussian s&y# ,he day efore he was s!heduled to e e7e!uted, the !hief of &oli!e ha&&ened to mention to /innish mathemati!ian (olf >e%anlinna that ;tomorrow we are e7e!uting a s&y who says he .nows you#< >e%anlinna inter%ened and Weil was de&orted instead to +weden, thus s&aring his life# +weden sent him a!. to /ran!e in 1920, where he was arrested, !on%i!ted of failure to re&ort for duty, and senten!ed to fi%e years in &rison# While in -ail for si7 months at (ouen, he &ro%ed the (iemann hy&othesis for !ur%es o%er finite fields# As the /ren!h military was eing !rushed on the attlefields y the 8ermans, Weil feared for his life, &artly e!ause of his 3ewish a!.ground and &artly e!ause his sister, the renowned &hiloso&hi!al writer and mysti! +imone Weil, was a leading figure in the /ren!h (esistan!e mo%ement# +he died in 192C from %oluntary star%ation in an attem&t to identify with her !om&atriots suffering in >a)i o!!u&ied /ran!e# 9e!iding the army to e the lesser of two e%ils Andre Weil gained his release from &rison on the !ondition that he agreed to -oin a !om at unit#

After the /ran!o*8erman armisti!e, Weil0s regiment was e%a!uated to England, where the troo&s had the !hoi!e of -oining de 8aulle0s army or to e de&orted from England# Weil0s military unit was delayed in rea!hing the rende)%ous &oint for the %oyage a!. to uno!!u&ied /ran!e and was left ehind# $e was in 'ondon during the 'uftwaffe0s daily om ing raids# 1n 1921, he returned to /ran!e and was reunited with his wife and young son# Bsing a !ard he fa ri!ated while in England, he managed to get himself dis!harged, ut he feared he might e re:uired to ser%e the remainder of his

sus&ended senten!e# +omehow he was a le to arrange for %isas to the Bnited +tates for himself and family# $e riefly found wor. at 5rin!eton, then $a%erford 6ollege, followed y +warthmore and 'ehigh# 9uring the years 192?*192J, he was on the fa!ulty of +Ko 5aulo Bni%ersity in Dra)il# In returning to the Bnited +tates, he -oined the fa!ulty of the Bni%ersity of 6hi!ago, remaining there until 19?8, finally settling at the 1nstitute for Ad%an!ed +tudies at 5rin!eton where he remained until his retirement in 19J6# Weil was still a!ti%e as &rofessor emeritus at the 1nstitute until a few years efore his death# Among his most famous oo.s are Foundations of Alge raic Geometry (1926) and Elliptic Functions According to Eisenstein and !ronec"er (19J6)# After his wife E%eline died in 1986, he wrote an outstanding auto iogra&hy, The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician (199")#

Luotation of the 9ayF ;(igor is to the mathemati!ian what morality is to man# 1t does not !onsist in
&ro%ing e%erything, ut in maintaining a shar& distin!tion etween what is assumed and what is &ro%ed, and in endea%oring to assume as little as &ossi le at e%ery stage#< Andr Weil