Pierre (Peter) Gabriel 1933-2015
Date: 12/30/2015
Subject: Peter Gabriel
An inspirational and influential teacher of category theory passed away in the last week of November 2015. He was one of the leaders in the study of irreducible linear representations of quivers, partly a development of the view of abelian categories he had elaborated in his thesis.
My own understanding of categorical methods, algebraic spaces, and toposes was strongly influenced by Oberwolfach discussions with him in 1965.
Still fundamental, for learning category theory and its applications, are his innovative textbooks: on presentable categories with Fritz Ulmer, on fractions and homotopy with Michel Zisman, and on algebraic groups with Michel Demazure.
The study of Gabriel’s work generates a productive contradiction (encountered also with other great mathematicians such as his teacher Alexander Grothendieck); the exposition is crystal clear, but we understand more the more often we address it.
-Bill Lawvere