At least in Grothendieck's case, the boundary between "visionary" and "madman" is not so clear. This is a guy who spent decades pursuing targets nobody else cou

At least in Grothendieck's case, the boundary between "visionary" and "madman" is not so clear. This is a guy who spent decades pursuing targets nobody else could see, and convincing other people to join him, and the end result was a resounding success for mathematics. The combination of 1. the truth-seeking confidence that comes from pulling that off, and 2. what sounds like a deeply traumatizing childhood at the hands of various governments is a...complicated mixture.