May 1988: Alexander Grothendieck, one of the most influential mathematicians
of the 20th century and a 1966 Fields Medalist, explained in the newspaper
Le Monde his reasons for declining the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences. The prize, which carried a monetary award of US$270,000,
was conferred on Grothendieck and his former collaborator, Pierre Deligne.
Why did Grothendieck decline the prize? He explained in a May 4, 1988,
letter to Le Monde that he did not need the money and that he had left
the world of mathematics in 1970. He also wrote that "the only decisive
proof of the fertility of ideas or of a new vision is that of time.
Ferility is recognizable by offspring, not by honors."
http://www.ams.org/ams/thismathmonth.html