[dbranes]

No we should not suffix the name of every person in post titles with their occupation. Grothendieck is one of the most influential mathematicians of the last century. This is like demanding clarifications like "this article is about Mark Zuckerburg, a CEO"

[a3_nm]

Even if you know who Gronthendieck is, the title is surprisingly unhelpful.

[mathgenius]

The title invoked in me a state of mystery, which is perhaps exactly the right way to approach this subject.

[thedailymail]

I agree that the title was intriguing and although I am not fluent in mathematics at the level discussed in the article, I found the biographical sections very interesting and the writing style to be engaging.

Particularly interesting were the comparisons with Boltzmann and Cantor, apparently also "tortured" or at least socially eccentric, geniuses. My understanding of their work is limited but the author of this article seemed to allude to the risks of, or at least correlations with, psychological instability and research at the extreme frontiers of mathematics. (I know this notion is a tired cliche, but still...)

If anyone out there has an understanding of how Grothendieck "deepened the concept of a geometric point" and feels the urge to explain it in layman terms, I have an upvote for you!

[klipt]

As does all clickbait. "You won't believe what happens next!" "Doctors hate her!" Ooh, mysterious, why do doctors hate her?

[_ah]

She was shocked. It's an easy trick, discovered by a mom.

[dbranes]

It's literally word for word the title of the linked article, which makes it a reasonable choice for a title, no?

[ryanx435]

You can tell it's a terrible title because the only comments are discussing the title and not the content of the article

[mattkrause]

So...having read the article (honestly!), I'm still not sure why this is the title.

He bounced around Europe as a young man (due to WWII), but he did the vast majority of his work in France. However, Wikipedia says he was technically stateless because he held off on applying for French citizenship.

I would guess the title an allusion to that--and his reclusiveness later in life, but I still feel like I'm either missing something or something was lost in translation. Is it a quote or paraphrase of something?

[thedailymail]

About midway through the article, Cartier (the author) says that "Grothendieck had a taste and a talent for naming things, which he used as a major intellectual strategy. Thus, my title, “A Country Known Only by Name,” is an homage to his way with words."

I agree with others that it's not the most straightforward title he could have used (although I don't think it's the same thing as clickbait). But personally I enjoyed the sense of mystery it lent to an article I might otherwise have skipped.

[mattkrause]

I read that but the country part still confuses me--it's a very odd way to refer to a person. This made me wonder if it was a reference to something. "No Country for Old Men", for example, is from the first line of "Sailing to Byzantium", a poem by Yeats.

[PhasmaFelis]

Not necessarily, since the internet is notorious for producing awful article titles. (Although usually they're deliberate clickbait rather than this sort of obscureness.) I believe HN's policy is to change the title if it's confusing or inaccurate.

[PhasmaFelis]

I'm just baffled why this is getting downvotes. If you don't like HN's policy, complain to dang, not me. If you don't think there's a lot of clickbait on the internet, there's really nothing I can do for you.

[freehunter]

When I read the title, I assume Grothendieck is a country. You know, because it says "Grothendieck is a country". So maybe you don't need to say "Grothendieck, the mathematician", but the title is specifically going out of its way to be as unclear as possible.

[nextlevelwizard]

I literally couldn't tell you even what part of the field he was involved with or when.

Although I could tell you that Zuckerburg made Facebook.

Just because you know something doesn't mean it's common knowledge (or that other people will even care)

[PhasmaFelis]

Being an influential mathematician doesn't really put you high on most people's awareness.

But you're misstating the problem. If the title had been "A country of which nothing is known but the name Obama", I would still have assumed that it was about a little-known historical nation that happened to share a name with the last US president. It's just a really weird, confusing title.

[Retra]

Well, if all you do is read the title, then what does it matter how confusing it is?

[PhasmaFelis]

I read the title to decide if the article is worth reading. I'm not sure what you think titles are for.