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Collected papers. Volume 5. Edited by Loring W. Tu. (English) Zbl 1403.01038

Contemporary Mathematicians. Cham: Birkhäuser (ISBN 978-3-319-51779-7/hbk; 978-3-319-51781-0/ebook). xix, 676 p. (2018).
“This volume brings together all of Raul Bott’s publications since 1991, some unpublished articles, as well as some other earlier published articles not included in prior volumes of these Collected papers.” Thus, spawning Bott’s twilight years (he died 2005), the volume is nevertheless astonishingly rich. Part I “Biographies and commentaries” contains Bott’s own Curriculum Vitae, some moving remembrances on him, and several articles commenting papers included in the next part. Part II “Papers of Raul Bott since 1991” is the most extensive in this volume. It contains articles which still highly influenced further research, e.g., on stable bundles or on manifold invariants, some historical articles including one on periodicity theorem, a few biographical ones on Georges de Rham, Stephen Smale, Shiing-Shen Chern, Robert D. MacPherson, and Lars Valerian Ahlfors. That part contains also some wonderful expository articles, some reflective ones on the relation between mathematics and physics, and an interview with Bott. Part III consists of four articles not included in prior volumes, including one in memoriam of Sumner B. Myers. The last Part IV consists of Bott’s four colorful speeches. In total, the volume is a fine culmination of Bott’s Collected papers, showing his rich and influential personality.

MSC:

01A75 Collected or selected works; reprintings or translations of classics
01A60 History of mathematics in the 20th century
01A70 Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies
55-03 History of algebraic topology
57-03 History of manifolds and cell complexes
58-03 History of global analysis
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