Bourbakist

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A follower of Nicolas Bourbaki, the pseudonymous collective of mathematicians, or someone who writes mathematics in its formal, axiomatic manner
2. Someone associated with the Bourbaki group, the French mathematical collective that aimed to rebuild analysis on rigorous set-theoretic foundations
3. A mathematician who adheres to the abstract, highly structured style championed by the Bourbaki circle of French writers of mathematical texts

Etymology: Nicolas Bourbaki never existed. The name was the joint pseudonym of a group of mostly French mathematicians who wrote a monumental, multi-volume textbook series, the "Éléments de mathématique." The pseudonym was borrowed from General Charles-Denis Bourbaki, a French army commander of the Franco-Prussian War, and the group's founders apparently chose it partly as a joke. A "Bourbakist" is one of the members of that collective, or someone who follows its approach. Formed by adding the suffix "-ist," meaning an adherent or practitioner, to the group's name, the term describes a person in the group's circle. It can also describe the group's style: rigorous, axiomatic, and built up from abstract structures, with little reliance on pictures or intuition.