Istituto Grothendieck

13/03/2026

🎤 We are delighted to share a recent interview with the President of our Institute, Prof. Caramello, for Rekh Magazine, by its editor-in-chief Primavera Fisogni.

🌉 In the interview, Olivia Caramello talks in particular about the theory of ‘bridges’ - a conceptual framework she has developed to connect different theories in an effective and powerful way - and touches on themes as the unity of mathematics, the role of creativity, and the importance of building conceptual connections.

✨ The interview is included in “FEMMINILE, PLURALE”, the book dedicated to a group of excellent women, just published: the ebook, attached below, can be freely downloaded.

🔗 Read the interview:
https://lnkd.in/dZ9t5nYM

22/12/2025

15/12/2025

We're excited to announce the upcoming congress "Diagrammi: Matematiche, Filosofia e Semiotica" in Palermo, Italy, hosted by the Università degli Studi di Palermo's Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche and organized by Francesco la Mantia and Salvatore Tedesco.

📚 Charles Alunni, Coordinator of the Centre for Grothendieckian Studies at the Grothendieck Institute, and Olivia Caramello, President of the Institute and Coordinator of the Centre for Topos Theory and its Applications, will participate alongside other distinguished speakers.​

📅 Event Details
The event spans December 18-19, 2025, at Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 12, Aula Dottorato 1.17, 90128 Palermo, PA.

🎤 Featured Speakers and Talks
Charles Alunni (École Normale Supérieure de Paris, Grothendieck Institute): "La preuve par l'image" on December 18.​
Olivia Caramello (Università dell'Insubria, Grothendieck Institute): "Diagrams for Metamathematics" on December 18.​
Additional speakers: Laurence Dahan-Gaida, Anne-Françoise Schmid, Jean-Claude Dumoncel, Cecilia Rofena, Yuri Di Liberto, Giovanni Maddalena, Catherine Paoletti, Alessandro Sarti, covering topics from Bergson and Wittgenstein to Derrida and Lacan.​

Join us in celebrating this interdisciplinary exploration of diagrams! 🌟
For full details, see the attached programme.

10/12/2025

The Grothendieck Institute is glad to share the theatre play “Un passo in più”, focused on three extraordinary women: Rosa Govone, Anna Maria Vietti and our President, mathematician Olivia Caramello.
An exciting journey through three centuries of civic, human and scientific commitment, guided by the actress Sara D'Amario.

Tre donne, tre epoche, tre storie che hanno lasciato un segno indelebile: Rosa Govone, Anna Maria Vietti e Olivia Caramello. 

Un viaggio emozionante attraverso tre secoli di impegno civile, umano e scientifico, guidati da Sara D’Amario, con la partecipazione straordinaria di Olivia Caramello.

Domenica 14 dicembre, ore 16
Polo Le Rosine – Via Plana 8/C, Torino

Ingresso a offerta libera a sostegno del Punto di Ascolto per Donne in Difficoltà.
Prenotazioni: [email protected]

damario

21/11/2025

🎓 We are delighted to share an interview with the President of our Institute, Prof. Caramello, for the magazine of Confindustria Cuneo “Made in Cuneo”, edited by Giulia Poetto.

🎼In the interview, entitled "Mathematics allows me to be a composer", Olivia Caramello recounts how music was her first love and how her extraordinary career has always mixed mathematics and music.

Read the interview here: https://www.calameo.com/read/007024035a05802b057e3

Made In Cuneo è la rivista di Confindustria Cuneo per comunicare, lo strumento per raccontare la nostra provincia, gli avvenimenti eccezionali così come la vita quotidiana, con un occhio di riguardo dedicato in particolare alle nostre...

21/11/2025

🎥 The video of the talk given at MantovaScienza by the President of the Institute, Olivia Caramello, is now online!

A special opportunity to share reflections and ideas on ‘bridges’ and the unification of different disciplinary fields.

👉 Watch the full speech at this link: https://www.youtube.com/live/lIUBK-OlXjI

🌉Cos'è un ponte? Non solo quello che pensi tu: la matematica Olivia Caramello ci illustrerà l'idea di ponte così come è emersa dal suo lavoro sullo svilupp...

20/11/2025

✨We are honoured to announce that the Institute has received an extraordinary gift from artist Dominique Lepetz, a former student of Alexander Grothendieck at the University of Montpellier.
🎨 The work is a beautiful collage featuring an original manuscript by Grothendieck at its centre, surrounded by fragments of mathematical texts by Alain Connes, Laurent Lafforgue and Olivia Caramello.

🪐Entitled "Tutto l'universo obbedisce all'amore" (in homage to Franco Battiato), the work was presented for the first time during Lepetz's exhibition at our event "Mathematics as an artistic experience" in Paris last July.

🌉The presence of an authentic manuscript by Grothendieck, combined with extracts from contemporary writings inspired by his mathematical vision, creates a bridge between past and present, giving the work a unique symbolic and artistic value.

A special thanks to Dominique Lepetz for this marvelous gift!

19/11/2025

Excited to share highlights from the “Autumn School on Topos and Applications”!

Several scholars from our Institute participated in this event organised by Wuhan University and the Sino-French Centre for Mathematics (23-28 September).

✨ Prof. Olivia Caramello, coordinator of our Centre for Topos Theory and its Applications (CTTA), presented “Introduction to Relative Topos Theory”, illustrating the new foundations for the theory of relative toposes developed by the Centre that provide powerful tools for modelling complex phenomena on multiple structural levels.

🎓 The programme saw the participation of Laurent Lafforgue (member of the Institute's Scientific Council) and researchers from the Institute Bruno Drieux and Gabriel Merlin.

A wonderful example of international collaboration that promotes dialogue on topos theory and its interdisciplinary applications! 🌍

06/11/2025

🌍 We are pleased to share a special episode of “La Terre au carré” on France Inter about Alexander Grothendieck
✍️ Hosted by Mathieu Vidard, the episode explores with Céline Pessis, historian of science and environmental sociologist, Grothendieck’s extraordinary journey: his life, his ideas and his bold choices, from mathematical rigour to his commitment to peace, from scientific discoveries to his criticism of institutions, to the depth of his personal search for meaning.
🌿 A revolutionary mathematician and ecological thinker, Grothendieck continually linked science, philosophy, and spirituality, always attentive to the deep connections between the human condition and nature.
🔍 This episode weaves together powerful questions about knowledge, responsibility and ecology, with a unique testimonial on the lasting impact of his thinking.

🎧 Listen here 👉 France Culture - La Terre au carré https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/podcasts/la-terre-au-carre/la-terre-au-carre-du-mardi-28-octobre-2025-4725800

22/10/2025

📖 We are pleased to announce the publication of "Les Années cachées"

✨Published by Éditions Odile Jacob, with a preface by Alain Connes – member of the Scientific Council of the Grothendieck Institute – together with Patrick Gauthier‑Lafaye, the book sheds new light on the inner journey of Alexander Grothendieck.

📚 Based on his previously unpublished correspondence with Christian Escriva, "Les Années cachées" traces Grothendieck’s profound personal and intellectual transformation as a visionary thinker — from his pioneering reflections on radical ecology and creativity to the limits of scientific knowledge, and themes of inner transformation and freedom through sexuality.

🖋️ Edited and commented by Christian Escriva, the volume gives an intimate and human portrait of an extraordinary mind and anticipates the major ideas developed in his later works "Récoltes et semailles" and "La Clef des songes".

🎥 On the occasion of the Homage to Alexander Grothendieck organized by the Institute in November 2024, Christian Escriva was interviewed by Olivia Caramello.
Watch the interview here 👉 https://igrothendieck.org/en/videos-of-the-event-homage-to-alexander-grothendieck/

🔖

20/10/2025

🎧 Alain Connes on Alexander Grothendieck

We are pleased to share the recent episode of La Conversation scientifique on France Culture, where Alain Connes - member of our Scientific Council - reflects on the life and work of Alexander Grothendieck.

Hosted by Étienne Klein, this episode offers a profound and personal portrait of the mathematician, exploring both his exceptional scientific contribution and his deeply human journey.

Alain Connes also co-authored the preface to the recent book "Les Années cachées", which presents the previously unpublished correspondence between Grothendieck and his close friend Christian Escriva, an intimate exchange revealing the philosophical and creative depth of one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.

🎙️ Listen to the podcast: Quel homme fut donc Alexandre Grothendieck ? - https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-conversation-scientifique/quel-homme-fut-alexandre-grothendieck-3872024

Pourquoi Alexandre Grothendieck fut-il un mathématicien génial ? Et qu'est-ce qui le poussa à quitter la "scène mathématique" pour centrer sa vie autour d'une expérience de "méditation" ?