Bourbaki, an Epiphenomenon in the History of Mathematics

Dr. Jean-Paul Pier
Professor Emeritus, University of Luxembourg
April 3, 2008, 6:30 p.m.
Mathematical Association of America Carriage House
1781 Church Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

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The constitution of Bourbaki was one of the most striking and influential moments in the history of twentieth century mathematics. The phenomenon is quite unique due to its conception as well as its exceptionally long duration. Thirty-five years after David Hilbert's fully axiomatized treatise on elementary geometry, the Bourbaki group launched the axiomatized presentation of large mathematical domains, in their utmost useful generality.  The Bourbaki archives up to the 1950's have now been opened. They will be progressively available Online, accompanied by comments and explanations. Information gleaned from these newly available archives will be discussed.

Bio:
Jean-Paul Pier, mathematician and Professor Emeritus of higher education at the University of Luxembourg is also an author of books on mathematics and the history of mathematics, including Amenable Locally Compact Groups (Wiley, New York, 1984), Amenable Banach Algebras (Longman, Harlow, 1988), and L'analyse harmonique, son développement historique (Masson, Paris, 1990).  Pier was editor of a number of collective volumes, including Development of Mathematics 1900-1950 and 1950-2000 (Birkhäuser, Basel, 1994, 2000). Pier was also the initiator of the proposal to have the year 2000 be proclaimed Mathematical Year 2000 by UNESCO.