The Centre for Grothendieckian Studies (CSG) commemorates Heisuke Hironaka, a major figure in contemporary mathematics, who passed away in 2026.
Hironaka maintained close ties with the French mathematical community and with Grothendieck’s work. In 1959, he became the first foreign visitor to be welcomed at the IHES, establishing a tradition of international openness that continues to this day. In 1962, he gave a series of notable lectures in Paris, shortly before the Institute’s permanent move to Bures-sur-Yvette, to the Bois-Marie campus.
Heisuke Hironaka was born on April 9, 1931, in Yamaguchi-ken, Japan. As a student at Kyoto University, he studied algebraic geometry under Yasuo Akizuki, a leading figure in the development of modern mathematics in Japan. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1960 under the direction of Oscar Zariski. Following positions at Brandeis University and Columbia University, Hironaka became a professor at Harvard in 1968. In 1970, Hironaka was awarded the Fields Medal for his fundamental contributions to algebraic geometry, in particular his work on the resolution of singularities. Henri Cartan presided over the Fields Medal Committee, whose members included J. L. Doob, Friedrich Hirzebruch, Lars Hörmander, Shokichi Iyanaga, John Milnor, Igor R. Shafarevich, and Paul Turán. The four mathematicians selected for the 1970 Fields Medals were Alan Baker, Heisuke Hironaka, Sergei Novikov (unable to attend the Congress), and John G. Thompson.
Grothendieck reported on Hironaka’s work on the resolution of singularities in the proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Nice in 1970:
Travaux de Heisouké Hironaka sur la résolution des singularités
In his report, Grothendieck wrote:
Du point de vue technique, la démonstration du théorème de Hironaka constitue une prouesse peu commune. Le rapporteur avoue n’en avoir pas fait entièrement le tour. Aboutissement d’années d’efforts concentrés, elle est sans doute l’une des démonstrations les plus « dures » et les plus monumentales qu’on connaisse en mathématique.
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