Alexander Groethendieck&#x27;s story is a parallel in mathematics. Groethendieck was one of the most influential mathematicians of the previous century and he was a militant leftist. He once lectured in Vietnam during the US&#x27;s military campaign and thought that mathematicians had moral and political obligations.<p>He was also extremely eccentric and erratic to the point where he withdrew from society almost entirely and lived as a recluse in the south of France for the last of his days.