.@kchangnyt next time you need someone to fact-check your history of probability (or your history of major math prizes -- though fewer howlers in your article on that score), look me up
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What specifically was happening in the mid-20th century that Labourie was ignoring?
The specific question you're objecting to appears to be this: "…most mathematicians in the middle of the 20th century did not think much of probability, which was at the bottom in the hierarchy of mathematics, below number theory, algebra and differential geometry."
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yes, probability was entirely mainstream in mid-century, embraced as an important method by prestigious folks in many places, including in Labourie's France. It was important in both pure and applied work (a distinction that was being actively re-negotiated in this period).
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Yes, and Labourie said that most mathematicians looked down on it, just as physicists think of engineering as a lesser academic discipline because it's just "applied physics." Probability is and was of course of great use, but it wasn't for most mathematicians.
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