Jean-Pierre Serre is 100 years old today

(st-andrews.ac.uk)

34 points | by jzox 57 minutes ago

3 comments

  • andrenarchy 8 minutes ago
    The European Mathematical Society just published an interview with Serre on the occasion of his birthday: https://euromathsoc.org/news/ems-magazine-no.-141:-celebrati...
  • jey 18 minutes ago
    > I did not like, and did not understand, epsilons and deltas.

    It's nice to have this perspective validated by someone like Serre! I felt like I was missing something when I first encountered that formalism. In fact, all of my introductory calculus classes sucked and turned me off of math for a few years.

    • zahlman 10 minutes ago
      What's the alternative for explaining those concepts that's still reasonably rigorous?
    • robotpepi 11 minutes ago
      He later participated in Bourbaki, who were known by their overly formal style, tough.
  • einpoklum 26 minutes ago
    I like this site of Mathematicians' biographies with some occasional quoted segments for extra flavor.

    I also like how Serre wrote a book on linear representations of symmetry groups, because his wife needed a good exposition of the subject for her work on quantum chemistry, and that Serre described that as "fullfiling his duty as a husband" :-P