That is akin to asking, did he owe to it to us to write up his proof rather than lock up reams of papers in his cabinet? As others have elaborated, academics ow

That is akin to asking, did he owe to it to us to write up his proof rather than lock up reams of papers in his cabinet? As others have elaborated, academics owe it to the community to not just spend their time 'working', but communicating. In fact, where does 'working' end and communicating begin? At writing it up on reams of paper? Typing it up and posting it to Arxiv? Going through peer review? Lecturing about your work and convincing people? It is arbitrary to draw a line at 'posting it to Arxiv'. 'working' only ends when your results are effectively communicated to the community. It is an incomplete project till then. The whole objective of research is to advance the field for the community, not just in one's own head!