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Friedrich Hirzebruch Gesammelte Abhandlungen — Collected Papers I: 1951-1962

Friedrich Hirzebruch
Publisher: 
Springer
Publication Date: 
2014
Number of Pages: 
814
Format: 
Paperback
Series: 
Springer Collected Works in Mathematics
Price: 
79.99
ISBN: 
9783642415807
Category: 
Collection
[Reviewed by
Fernando Q. Gouvêa
, on
04/9/2014
]

Springer's series of Collected Works in Mathematics continues apace, bringing back in softcover many volumes containing a wide selection of works. So far, the series includes collected or selected works from Emmy Noether, Heinz Hopf, Serge Lang (all five volumes), Peter Lax (two volumes), Ennio DeGiorgi, Harald Cramér, Ernst Witt, Benno Eckmann, Joseph Walsh, Irving Kaplansky, and others. For some authors publication is still in progress: we have seen some of the volumes of the works of Armand Borel, S. S. Chern, and Jean-Pierre Serre, for example. There is no way to review all of them, and there would probably be little point in doing individual reviews of all the volumes. It will suffice, I hope, to point out that they are available, and that at this point none of them seem to be available in electronic form through SpringerLink, so that even libraries who subscribe to the latter will want to actually buy copies.

One of the more recent arrivals is a two-volume Collected Papers of Friedrich Hirzebruch, one of the most important algebraic geometers of the last century. The first volume even includes an entire monograph, the famous Neue topologische Methoden in der algebraischen Geometrie, still in print from Springer as Topological Methods in Algebraic Geometry. In addition to (only) this monograph, most of Hirzebruch's papers are included. The vast majority of them are in German, with English coming in second place. At the back of each volume is a complete list of all of Hirzebruch's publications with indications of where (and if) they are to be found in these Collected Papers. The editors have provided notes on the included articles.

Hirzebruch is famous for the way he brought together topology, complex manifolds, and algebraic geometry. Anyone interested in those subjects will enjoy the material in these two volumes.


Fernando Q. Gouvêa is Carter Professor of Mathematics at Colby College in Waterville, ME and the editor of MAA Reviews.

The table of contents is not available.