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Michel Raynaud (; 16 June 1938 – 10 March 2018 Décès de Michel Raynaud
Société Mathématique de France.
) was a French
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
working in
algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which uses abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, to solve geometry, geometrical problems. Classically, it studies zero of a function, zeros of multivariate polynomials; th ...
and a professor at Paris-Sud 11 University.


Early life and education

He was born in Riom, France as a single son to a modest household. His father was a carpenter and his mother cleaned houses. He attended the local primary school at Châtel Guyon and Riom, and attended high school at the boarding school in
Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...
. Raynaud entered the École normale supérieur where he studied from 1958 to 1962, while being first of the class in the "agrégation" exam where the new high school teachers were selected in 1961. In 1962, he entered the
French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 engi ...
where he studied together with his future wife Michèle Chaumartin. Both had the same doctoral advisor in
Alexander Grothendieck Alexander Grothendieck, later Alexandre Grothendieck in French (; ; ; 28 March 1928 â€“ 13 November 2014), was a German-born French mathematician who became the leading figure in the creation of modern algebraic geometry. His research ext ...
. Raynaud received his doctoral degree in 1967.


Career

Raynaud was hired as professor at the Orsay Faculty of Sciences in Paris where he was employed until 2001, when he retired. Raynaud died on 10 March 2018 in
Rueil-Malmaison Rueil-Malmaison () or simply Rueil is a Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department, ÃŽle-de-France Regions of France, region. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is ...
, France.


Research

In 1983, Raynaud published a proof of the Manin–Mumford conjecture. In 1985, he proved Raynaud's isogeny theorem on Faltings heights of isogenous
elliptic curves In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a Smoothness, smooth, Projective variety, projective, algebraic curve of Genus of an algebraic curve, genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field (mathematics), ...
. With David Harbater and following the work of
Jean-Pierre Serre Jean-Pierre Serre (; born 15 September 1926) is a French mathematician who has made contributions to algebraic topology, algebraic geometry and algebraic number theory. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954, the Wolf Prize in 2000 and the inau ...
, Raynaud proved Abhyankar's conjecture in 1994. The Raynaud surface was named after him by William E. Lang in 1979.


Honors and awards

In 1970 Raynaud was an invited speaker at the
International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...
in
Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionPrize Ampère from the
French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...
. In 1995 he received the
Cole Prize The Frank Nelson Cole Prize, or Cole Prize for short, is one of twenty-two prizes awarded to mathematicians by the American Mathematical Society, one for an outstanding contribution to algebra, and the other for an outstanding contribution to numbe ...
, together with David Harbater, for his solution of the Abhyankar conjecture.


Personal life

He practiced skiing (especially in
Val-d'Isère Val-d'Isère (, literally ''Valley of Isère (river), Isère'') is a Communes of France, commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie Departments of France, department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region) in southeastern France. It ...
), tennis, and rock climbing (in
Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...
). He was married to the mathematician Michèle Raynaud () who also worked with
Alexander Grothendieck Alexander Grothendieck, later Alexandre Grothendieck in French (; ; ; 28 March 1928 â€“ 13 November 2014), was a German-born French mathematician who became the leading figure in the creation of modern algebraic geometry. His research ext ...
.


References


External links

*
Cole Prize citation for Michel Raynaud
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raynaud, Michel 1938 births 2018 deaths People from Riom 20th-century French mathematicians 21st-century French mathematicians École Normale Supérieure alumni Academic staff of Paris-Sud University Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Members of the French Academy of Sciences Algebraic geometers