André Weil is responsible for important advances in algebraic geometry, group theory, and number theory and belonged to the group of French mathematicians who published many important works under the collective pseudonym of Nicolas Bourbaki. Many of his peers in the 1950s considered him the finest living mathematician in the world. In 1980, he was presented with the Barnard Medal by Columbia University; prior recipients of the medal, which is awarded every five years, include Albert Einstein , Ernest Rutherford , and Neils Bohr . The prize recognizes outstanding accomplishment in physical or astronomical science or a scientific application of great benefit to humanity.

Weil was born May 6, 1906, in Paris, France, to free-thinking Jewish parents. His father, Bernard, was a physician, and his mother, Selma Reinherz Weil, came from a cultured Russian family. His sister was the famous writer, social critic, and World War II French Resistance activist, Simone Weil. When...