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Bob Coecke (Aug 14 2025 at 16:37):I know many here that know Mike Wright, who has spend his life recording seminars, going 52 years back including Grothendieck, 100.000 hours! At some point he had a lot of money, and spend it all on organising conferences. I actually 1st met @John Baez at one of those, in Florence. Now there is a risk of all those recordings getting lost. Please contribute! And distribute!
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/roger-penrose-asks-support-for-the-archive-trust
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 17:30):Are they making any progress? Two years ago at the Workshop on Doctrines and Fibrations there was somebody filming who said he was there for the Michael Wright's Archive Trust. Unfortunately I forgot his name, but he said that we could expect some of the old recordings of Lawvere to show up on the youtube channel soon, but so far there are only newer things. Back then I also had the impression that they had some money, but now they're back to asking for donations?
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 17:37):I really hope they'll release something soon!
John Baez (Aug 14 2025 at 17:37):Yes, what makes me reluctant to contribute or publicize this is the decades-long complete lack of progress on this project, and the lack of strong evidence that things will be different this time - like a clear plan.
Actually the best advertisement for this project would be a couple of videos with really famous speakers, put online on YouTube or some other freely available site.
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 17:55):A least the video gives a glimpse inside the fabled archive!
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Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 17:59):I still decided to donate something. (you can put the "tip" amount to 0 by clicking on "Enter custom amount" under the slider)
Bob Coecke (Aug 14 2025 at 18:18):Mike sold everything, his houses, everything just for storage purposes. He paid your travel @John Baez, really don't like your tone here! A major fraction of the videos are now digitised by volunteers, as you see in the pictures. This is not an easy project! This is the final stretch to get everything out. Mike was giving while others were just taking...part of the problem was that the people in the charity did nothing at all, left it all to Mike, him sacrificing everything. Some people are now trying to help him given his medical condition. Obviously not you @John Baez.
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 18:24):@Bob Coecke I understand John's skepticism, and I think he's actually making a good suggestion. Giving the public something would definitely be reassuring after all this time, and could boost fundraising.
And I agree with you that Mike deserves our support -- he really did a lot and organized and financed great events.
Bob Coecke (Aug 14 2025 at 18:25):This is his life's work. Thanks @Jonas Frey .
JR (Aug 14 2025 at 18:26):Donated 10 quid
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 18:28):I only met him once at a meeting in honor of Bénabou that he organized in Paris around 2010 2011, and have fond memories of having dinner with Thomas Streicher and him.
Bob Coecke (Aug 14 2025 at 18:29):The only problem with Mike is that he just can't stop talking. He has a hearth of gold, although at the moment it is not doing to well.
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 18:38):Yes, he definitely likes to talk! I hope he'll get better and I can have another dinner with him at some point!
John Baez (Aug 14 2025 at 20:51):I know Mike paid for me to go to Florence. My question was not about his generosity or nobility of intent. It was about whether this project has a plan that's likely to succeed. After all, the crowd-funder appeal was not asking for money to "help him out, given his medical condition". That could be justified, but it was asking for money to get a bunch of videos onto a website.
Bob Coecke (Aug 14 2025 at 21:02):It's getting there. The two guys in the pictures that Jonas posed have been doing a lot of conversion. One important point: until recently the technology needed to deal with old recordings didn't exist. Now there's AI stuff for free. So in a way it could only have happened now. I asked Mike for a Grothendieck clip.
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 21:08):Bob Coecke said:
I asked Mike for a Grothendieck clip.
Yay! Are you saying he has videos of G? That would indeed be something.
Jonas Frey (Aug 14 2025 at 21:10):Here's a video of Mike talking about the archive:
https://youtu.be/tHQi3Cqzwu8?si=k42J-x7YJdpffv1g
Bob Coecke (Aug 14 2025 at 21:16):A big part of the problem is "100.000 hours", so a lot of crap, obviously. But there are extensive dedicated interviews at Mike's house with the likes of Lawvere, Cartier, etc. Just a lot of stuff.
Nathanael Arkor (Aug 14 2025 at 21:44):Bob Coecke said:
until recently the technology needed to deal with old recordings didn't exist. Now there's AI stuff for free.
I'm curious what technology you're referring to?
David Corfield (Aug 15 2025 at 08:32):Bob Coecke said:
A big part of the problem is "100.000 hours", so a lot of crap, obviously.
He would even get me to record sessions in a reading group I held in the HPS Dept. in Cambridge in 2001, so, yes, there's some low-key stuff in there. But plenty of gems!
Bob Coecke (Aug 15 2025 at 12:33):Here's a wav from Grothendieck in 1973, speaking English with a heavy German accent although he left Germany at the age of 6. Besides the tapes there also are transcripts from those days on what was on the black board. Not sure how many were around then, but cassette recorders were not at all common yet.
#1 Tape2 SideB.wav
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 12:39):Interesting! is that after digital restauration?
Bob Coecke (Aug 15 2025 at 12:45):It is yes. Although more could be done to get rid of the noise, but it is pretty understandable already. Better than my old cassette tapes for sure, which do loose their data over time.
Bob Coecke (Aug 15 2025 at 12:47):There are 137 hours of Grothendieck Recordings.
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 12:50):Bob Coecke said:
speaking English with a heavy German accent although he left Germany at the age of 6.
I think he kept speaking German nearly daily for much of his life since he was living with his mother.
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 13:03):Bob Coecke said:
It is yes. Although more could be done to get rid of the noise, but it is pretty understandable already. Better than my old cassette tapes for sure, which do loose their data over time.
The quality is fine, yes! Better than the Buffalo recordings that I listened to once. By the way, does anybody have a link to those? I think there were online once, but I can't find them anymore.
John Baez (Aug 15 2025 at 13:15):I listened to those Buffalo tapes of Grothendieck, but they're hard to find now. E.g. on Math Stackexchange we read:
100 hours of audio of lectures of Grothendieck http://www.archmathsci.org/catalogue/general-chronology-of-recordings-since-1973/chronology-of-recordings-1973-1980/1973-recordings/ 1973 Recordings Lecture Courses by Alexandre GROTHENDIECK 3 Lecture Courses on respectively 1. Algebraic Geometry 2. The Theory of Algebraic Groups 3. Topos Theory
The copyright of all these recordings is that of the Department of Mathematics of SUNY at Buffalо.
but the link is dead.
John Baez (Aug 15 2025 at 13:19):However, I have my own copies of many of these tapes from Grothendieck's Buffalo lectures, since I took the precaution of downloading them after McLarty told me of their existence.
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 13:20):Here is Alain Connes playing part of the Buffalo recording in a talk. Actually the quality is similar to the recording that Bob shared.
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 13:28):John Baez said:
I listened to those Buffalo tapes of Grothendieck, but they're hard to find now. E.g. on Math Stackexchange we read:
100 hours of audio of lectures of Grothendieck http://www.archmathsci.org/catalogue/general-chronology-of-recordings-since-1973/chronology-of-recordings-1973-1980/1973-recordings/ 1973 Recordings Lecture Courses by Alexandre GROTHENDIECK 3 Lecture Courses on respectively 1. Algebraic Geometry 2. The Theory of Algebraic Groups 3. Topos Theory
The copyright of all these recordings is that of the Department of Mathematics of SUNY at Buffalо.
but the link is dead.
Yes that's a link to the website of Michael Wright's "Archive Trust", apparently they used to have more information on their website, but now there's hardly anything at all.
There is also what seems to be an older version of the website here which contains some listings of recordings (but without links).
John Baez (Aug 15 2025 at 13:30):I am putting a copy of Grothendieck's Buffalo recordings here:
http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/Grothendieck/
They will take about an hour and 20 minutes to upload. Then you should see a folder called Buffalo that has 13 subfolders of tapes made on different dates from 4-4-73 to 7-12-73, and one called "Unlabeled" containing a few more tapes.
(I guess the date system is the American one, so these would be from April to July 1973.)
John Baez (Aug 15 2025 at 13:38):You should also see a file
McLarty_on_Grothendieck's_Buffalo_Lectures.pdf
which are slides of a talk Colin McLarty's gave on Grothendieck's Buffalo lectures.
Bob Coecke (Aug 15 2025 at 13:38):So the "Archive Trust" got dissolved as it was more a problem than a solution. Everything is now going to a new location, and there is a bit of an urgency to it given Mike's health issues.
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 13:48):Interesting. In this presentation from 2023, Mike talks about shipping hard-drives to Vancouver. Can you tell us if that's part of the old or the new plan?
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 13:49):(I've included timestamps in the last two youtube links I posted, but apparently they only work if you open them in the youtube website, not in the overlay in zulip. So you have to click the link in the text rather than the preview.)
Bob Coecke (Aug 15 2025 at 13:57):So for years there were Canadians that would take care of everything, but after many years of promises, with also Sir Martin Rees involved negotiating on behalf of Mike, it didn't happen. So now everything is in Bristol, with two people working on the digitalisation. The crowd funding will help finish this.
Jonas Frey (Aug 15 2025 at 14:00):Fingers crossed that it will work out this time!
John Baez (Aug 15 2025 at 14:28):This information is useful. If I become confident that the project is going to work, I might just return the money Mike gave for me to visit Florence - maybe around $1000? What I don't want is to contribute to a project that's stuck in a quagmire - as this project seems to have been for as long as I've known Mike. If it's just an endless failure, I'd rather give money to people in Gaza or something.
Bob Coecke (Aug 18 2025 at 14:23):Where things stand:
1. 11000 older recordings ( on tape ) now 80-85 % digitised
2. Of those in need of restoration (enhancement with specialist software to improve listening quality) around 6500 tapes. Now 50% done
3. Scanned documentation. 150 000 out of 250 000 pages already scanned but some need re-scanning
4 Other info, breakdown of tasks, timeline and budget I also got now
5 20-24 months to finish everything
6 There is a spreadsheet version of provisional catalogue (Work in Progress) of all tapes/pre-digital recordings.
Jonas Frey (Aug 18 2025 at 15:55):Thanks for the update!
Bob Coecke said:
5 20-24 months to finish everything
Do you know if we'll have to wait until then until anything becomes available? Or Are they thinking about releasing the finished parts already before?
Bob Coecke (Aug 18 2025 at 18:18):Will come out in shifts.
David Michael Roberts (Aug 19 2025 at 03:53):@Bob Coecke may I copy your comment over to Mathstodon?
David Michael Roberts (Aug 19 2025 at 03:54):I shared the fundraising campaign there the other day, and want to add this as a follow-up post
Bob Coecke (Aug 19 2025 at 09:26):Of course @David Michael Roberts !