Fields Medalist Laurent Schwartz, who developed the theory of distributions,
has written an autobiography in French: "Laurent Schwartz: un mathematicien
aux prises avec le siecle".
K. Chandrasekharan summarizes and reviews this book in the _Notices of the
AMS_, vol. 45, no. 9, pp. 1141-1147, October 1998.
[...]
The Committee's efforts extended also to mathematicians
in other countries; for example, Sion Assidon in Morocco,
Vaclav Benda in Czechoslovakia, Jose Luis Massera in
Uruguay. Well may Schwartz conclude with the words:
'Mathematicians carry the rigour of scientific reasoning
into everyday life. Mathematical discovery is subversive,
and is ever ready to break taboos, and depends very little
on established authorities. Many today tend to consider
scientists, whether mathematicians or not, as people little
concerned with moral standards, harmful, shut up within
their ivory tower, and indifferent to the world outside.
The Committee of Mathematicians is a brilliant illustration
of the contrary'.
[...]
It is possible to fully read the review online (in .PS or .PDF formats)
at:
http://www.ams.org/notices/
Regards, Julio GC