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最著名的法国数学家——可能也是外国人最熟知的法国科学界的人物——曾要求加入美国数学会而遭到拒绝。不是因为他的功绩不被承认,或者因为法国数学家应该受到某种排斥,而是因为尼古拉·布尔巴基(Nicolas Bourbaki)是作为个人会员请求加入的,但是这个人并不存在!布尔巴基是代表一个集体事业的假名,它通过自行遴选而不断更新,因而使它能永葆青春。可是如果我们再作进一步观察,会发现这并不妨害它变老。自从布尔巴基出版它的第一批书以来,已经四十年了。今天它还在继续出版。这是一个美好的事业,人们已经可以对它作出暂时的总结。总结无疑是肯定的,纵使它这二十年来的成绩不如过去。这些从事于一种不可能的、狂妄的、不理智的工作——这是前辈们的评价——的热心创业的青年数学家还没有达到他们的全部目的。但是他们已经深刻地改变了数学的外貌和语言。
The most famous French mathematician, perhaps the most familiar figure of French science in foreigners, was denied access to the American Mathematical Society. Not because his deeds were not recognized, or because French mathematicians deserved some exclusion, but because Nicolas Bourbaki was asked to join as a personal member, but that person does not exist! Boolean Baki is a pseudonym of a collective cause that is constantly renewed through its own selection and thus renders it permanent. However, if we make further observations, we will find that this does not prevent it from getting old. It has been 40 years since Bourbaki published its first books. It is still in the process of being published today. It is a wonderful undertaking that people have been able to make a temporary summary of it. The conclusion is undoubtedly affirmative, even if it is not as good as the past two decades. These young, enthusiastic young mathematicians, who are engaged in an impossible, arrogant, irrational work - which the predecessors did - have not reached their full goal. But they have profoundly changed the appearance and language of mathematics.