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It is well-known that Grothendieck's Esquisse d'un programme was submitted in 1984 as part as the author's application for the permanent position, Directeur de Recherche at CNRS (the main public research institution in France, employing thousands of full-time researchers.) This came after Grothendieck had resigned his professorship at IHES and spent a few years as a professor at the University of Montpellier. All of this is for instance written in Esquisse d'un programme itself, or in Recoltes et Semailles.

What I would like to know (with certainty): what happened to his application to CNRS? Did he receive a permanent position? Another kind of position? Nothing? If he got some offer, did he accept it or refuse it? If he accepted an offer, did he effectively hold it, and when, how, and why did he eventually give up the position (I assume he did, because before long he disappeared almost completely.)

Now, Wikipedia (on the Esquisse d'un programme page) says something about it, namely that the application was successful and that he held the position held from 1984 to 1988.

It refers to an article in Science News, which, I seem to recall, did not say more. However, I have asked this of various people in France, receiving as many different answers as persons I asked. So I would like confirmation of this point by knowledgeable people. Moreover, this Wikipedia sentence just answers part of the question: it doesn't say what kind of position Grothendieck received, whether he effectively held it, and why and how he resigned from it.

On the other hand, this is a public event for which all or most participants are still alive, so it should be relatively easy to obtain a knowledgeable answer.

I apologize that my question has absolutely no mathematical content, but there is a long sequence of well-accepted precedent questions about aspects of the lives of famous mathematicians and also about mathematical institutions.

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I would think this is from an authoritative source, since apparently the author consulted with Bourguignon (chair of the hiring committee at CNRS).

When Grothendieck reapplied to the CNRS in 1984, his application was once again controversial. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, now director of the IHÉS, chaired the committee in charge of reviewing applications in mathematics, among which was Grothendieck’s. According to Bourguignon, in the handwritten letter required for the application, Grothendieck listed several tasks he would not perform, such as supervising research students. Because CNRS contracts obligate researchers to perform some of these tasks, this letter was viewed by the CNRS administration as proof of Grothendieck’s ineligibility. Bourguignon said he tried to get Grothendieck to amend his application so that it did not state explicitly all the tasks he refused to carry out, but Grothendieck would not budge. After considerable effort on the part of several people, Grothendieck was eventually put on a special kind of position, called a position asterisquée, that was acceptable to him and to the CNRS. The CNRS did not actually hire him but was in charge only of paying his salary, and he retained his university affiliation. So for his last few years at Montpellier before his retirement in 1988, Grothendieck did not teach and spent less and less time at the university.

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted. So I think that the wikipedia page should be modified, because an unqualified "successful application" is not what happened. $\endgroup$
    – Joël
    Commented Dec 5, 2013 at 15:33
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    $\begingroup$ That there be something called «une position astérisquée» is more quintessentially French than a jambon-beurre! $\endgroup$
    – Mariano Suárez-Álvarez
    Commented Dec 6, 2013 at 2:20
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    $\begingroup$ There is a considerable hypocrisy from the CNRS in this story, because there are not a few permanent members of the CNRS who never took a PhD student, and certainly if you count the number of CNRS members who don't have a student during the last four years before retirement, the proportion will be high. Moreover Grothendieck had had around two dozens of students during his career before applying to CNRS, so the committee could have considered that he had done enough on this respect. $\endgroup$
    – Joël
    Commented Dec 6, 2013 at 15:50
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    $\begingroup$ I have modified the wikipedia web page, adding the sentence " The proposal was not successful, but Grothendieck obtained a special position where, while keeping his affiliation at the university of Montpellier, he was paid by the CNRS and released of his teaching obligations. Grothendieck held this position from 1984 till 1988" and the reference to the source given by Carlo. $\endgroup$
    – Joël
    Commented Dec 6, 2013 at 16:06
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    $\begingroup$ @Joël I realize this is old but it got bumped so I noticed. I cannot follow accussation of hypocrisy there. It is one thing to never have done something by circumstance and a completely different one to state one will never do something out of principle. By contrast I find the behavior of Grothendieck there quite odd, creating issue and complications for others trying to accomodate his needs, for no actual purpose whatsoever (as in practice he would not have been forced to take the students). $\endgroup$
    – user9072
    Commented Oct 28, 2014 at 12:19

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