In May of 1988 the Swedish Academy awarded him the Crafoord Prize. This prize, a belated attempt to repair the neglect of Alfred Nobel in not creating a prize in mathematics, came with a cash award of about $160,000. Grothendieck stunned the world by rejecting it. In his letter to Le Monde he speaks of dishonesty in science and a political establishment that he refused to endorse by accepting the prize. He also hints at mystical visions forecasting an inexorable Holocaust, to be followed by a Utopian Golden Age.
I was in France at that time. After reading his letter in Le Monde I set out to find him. The adventurous search took 3 months. We took a liking to each other. During our interview and in our correspondence over the next few years, he shared ideas on the arms race, the purposes of science, the reasons for his rejection of the prize, plagiarism and dishonesty in mathematics and the scientific community in general.From him, and from local friends, I learned details of his biography that were not generally known.
The story of my search , our conversations and their sequel, was serialized in my newsletter Ferment in 1989 .
In 1992 he went into hiding , severing contacts with friends, family and colleagues. The author organized a committee to search for him that led to his discovery, in good health and busily at work, in September, 1996. This committee has since become the Grothendieck Biography Project. Contact me for information about our activities.
All of this is recorded in a 180 page account in 3 parts.