CMI Workshop:
The Foundations of Algebraic Geometry: Grothendieck's EGA Unbound

August 4 – 15, 2008

Alexandre Grothendieck's canonical text Éléments de Géométrie Algébrigue (EGA) has a formidable reputation among algebraic geometers: On the one hand, it lays out the foundations of the subject at a level of completeness and generality not available elsewhere. On the other hand, its level of abstraction and lack of concrete examples make it wholly unsuitable as a beginning textbook. As a result, young researchers are typically forced to acquire the contents of EGA in a piecemeal fashion, without a full appreciation of the systematic architecture of the theory. The goal of this workshop is to give advanced graduate students and postdocs in algebraic geometry, who already have a feel for the power and utility of Grothendieck's formalism, the opportunity to consolidate their understanding of the foundations of subject.

Syllabus

Week 1: EGA Volume II, sections 1-8, and EGA Volume III, sections 1-5
Week 2: EGA Volume IV, sections 1-18

Organizers

Participants