@vzn re a detail in your blog post: Grothendieck did in fact not turn down the Fields Medal. He refused to participate in the respective ICM but did not refuse the prize itself.

lol dont know the details but how do you know he "accepted" if he didnt go to the ceremony? did he accept the cash?

thx for correction, need to look that up again

ok, he rejected the $250K Crafoord prize & wrote a letter explaining his reasons.

but not sure the correction is correct. as the japanese say "the reverse side has a reverse side"...

Grothendieck, eccentric maths genius, dies in France (Update) / Physorg

> Grothendieck refused to accept the Fields award and turned down the job offers that poured in from universities around the world.

Grothendieck

> At the Congress, Léon Motchane, director of IHES, received the Fields Medal on Grothendieck's behalf.

but did Grothendieck authorize that? did Motchane give him the money?

> In contrast to his acceptance of the 1966 Fields Medal, Grothendieck declined the Crafoord Prize in 1988.

this leads to a bit of a metaphysical question. how does a mathematician actually "accept" an award? if he didnt go to the ceremony, how is that possible? why are we to assume that Motchane was authorized by Grothendieck to accept on his behalf? on the contrary Grothendieck was known to be feuding with Motchane eg over military funding of IHES.