Thank you for sending me the latest comments/speculations about Bourbaki.
Yes, Groethendieck was a member of Bourbaki, for a decade. He also left,
returned, and left again.
Szolem Mandelbrojt (not to be confused with his nephew Benoit
Mandelbrot) was never kept away from university positions by anyone.
He returned to his chair at College de France after WW2; he
had be ousted by French laws against the Jews and was officially
reinstated.
An article of mine should appear in the 1998 issue of *Osiris* in which
I discuss briefly Bourbaki's struggle with category theory. There is
more to it though, and I don't even cover that story completely in
either of my forthcoming books. That story constitutes the topic of a long
article, which I plan to write in collaboration with several people.
I realise, however, the need for plain facts. Yet they cannot appear
seperated from some analysis. And the lot is long in gestating.
With my best regards,
Liliane Beaulieu