1939, a bookstore in Paris published a new book, The Original Mathematics (Volume I). The author signed nicolas bourbaki, unknown. Because the second world war broke out soon, this book was unknown. However, this book continued to be published, with an average of one volume per year, and gradually became famous, but no one knew who bourbaki really was, and later it became a "mystery" in mathematics.
Bourbaki is full of creativity. Almost every year, he dedicates a new math volume to the world. Bourbaki's achievement restored the glory in the history of French mathematics. But in the field of French mathematics, mathematicians have no chance to see this new mathematical star. 1986, a speech entitled "The Life of bourbaki" finally revealed the mystery of bourbaki's life experience. Originally, bourbaki was not a person, but a creative collective.
During the First World War, the French government put all college students on the front line, which caused disastrous damage to France's scientific career. Two-thirds of the students in Paris Teachers' College alone became victims of this war, and there was a generation vacancy in French mathematics. Obviously, French mathematics is behind the times. 1924, a group of 18-year-old young people came to Paris, France (the highest institution in France) to study, and they were determined to rearrange all the mathematics so far with the latest ideas. These fledgling young people are going to write a book "Principles of Mathematics" and build their own system in three years. As a result, they have been writing for 40 years and haven't finished it yet, but in the process, the Bourbaki school was formed.
There is an unwritten rule in bourbaki that anyone over 50 must automatically withdraw from the front desk to make way for young people. Therefore, in the constant flow of members, bourbaki has maintained youthful vigor and creative vitality for a long time. In fact, bourbaki has no written articles of association. As long as young people have extensive and solid mathematical literacy and are good at independent thinking, they can become full members of bourbaki. Of course, he must also stand the special test of bourbaki's Congress. The bourbaki Congress is held two or three times a year. Every meeting should discuss the writing plan of mathematical elements. After the meeting, it was roughly determined that a book is divided into several chapters, and what topic to write in each chapter. After the meeting, a volunteer was appointed to write the first draft. After the first draft is completed, every word must be read aloud at the meeting and accepted without mercy. It often leads to tit-for-tat arguments. When the dispute subsided, the manuscript written after several years of hard work was often criticized to pieces, so new volunteers were appointed to write the second draft. A volume of Mathematical Principles is generally repeated five or six times from the beginning of writing to the publication, and no one can tell who its author is.
They study hard and keep making new achievements. From 1950 to 1966, * * four French scholars won the Fields Prize in Mathematics, three of whom were members of bourbaki. Bourbaki's early members, such as Wei Yi, Didong and Jia Dang, all grew up to be world-famous mathematicians. It is also because of the long-term fruitful cooperation of several generations of French mathematicians that bourbaki became one of the most influential schools in the 20th century.