Description
Birkhauser A History of Algebraic and Differential Topology 1900 - 1960 by Jean Dieudonne
This book is a well-informed and detailed analysis of the problems and development of algebraic topology, from Poincare and Brouwer to Serre, Adams, and Thom. The author has examined each significant paper along this route and describes the steps and strategy of its proofs and its relation to other work. Previously, the history of the many technical developments of 20th-century mathematics had seemed to present insuperable obstacles to scholarship. This book demonstrates in the case of topology how these obstacles can be overcome, with enlightening results.... Within its chosen boundaries the coverage of this book is superb. Read it!_x000D__x000D__x000D_-MathSciNet_x000D_ Table of contents :- _x000D_
Preface.- Notations.- Part 1. Simplicial Techniques and Homology.- Introduction.- The Work of Poincare.- The Build-Up of 'Classical' Homology.- The Beginnings of Differential Topology.- The Various Homology and Cohomology Theories.- Part 2. The First Applications of Simplicial Methods and of Homology.- Introduction.- The Concept of Degree.- Dimension Theory and Separation Theorems.- Fixed Points.- Local Homological Properties.- Quotient Spaces and Their Homology.- Homology of Groups and Homogeneous Spaces.- Applications of Homology to Geometry and Analysis.- Part 3. Homotopy and its Relation to Homology.- Introduction.- Fundamental Group and Covering Spaces.- Elementary Notions and Early Results in Homotopy Theory.- Fibrations.- Homology of Fiberations.- Sophisticated Relations between Homotopy and Homology.- Cohomology Operations.- Generalized Homology and Cohomology.- Bibliography.- Index of Cited Names.- Subject Index._x000D_