MSC: Primary 01;
Print ISBN: 978-0-8218-3967-6
Product Code: BOURBAKI
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Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4704-2486-2
Product Code: BOURBAKI.E
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Bourbaki: A Secret Society of Mathematicians
Share this pageMaurice Mashaal
The name Bourbaki is known to every mathematician. Many
also know something of the origins of Bourbaki, yet few know the full story.
In 1935, a small group of young mathematicians in France decided to write a
fundamental treatise on analysis to replace the standard texts of the time.
They ended up writing the most influential and sweeping mathematical treatise
of the twentieth century, Les élements de
mathématique.
Maurice Mashaal lifts the veil from this secret society, showing us how
heated debates, schoolboy humor, and the devotion and hard work of the members
produced the ten books that took them over sixty years to write. The book has
many first-hand accounts of the origins of Bourbaki, their meetings, their
seminars, and the members themselves. He also discusses the lasting influence
that Bourbaki has had on mathematics, through both the Élements
and the Seminaires. The book is illustrated with numerous remarkable
photographs.
To read a review published in the
Readership
General mathematical audience.
Reviews & Endorsements
There are marvelous biographical essays; a fine account of the actual historical figure, Nicholas Bourbaki ... highly appealing stuff ... fantastic pictures ... It's great fun.
-- MAA Reviews
The author, Maurice Mashaal, portrays the protagonists of the secret society and describes their aims, successes, and failures in an entertaining and refreshingly readable style.
-- translated from Neue Zürcher Zeitung
(The) book provides a highly interesting and elucidating account on the once very mysterious Bourbaki group, with numerous new facts, original quotations, propaedeutical explanations, historical reminiscences, biographical sketches, and many rare photographs. This book makes the personage of Nicolas Bourbaki vividly palpable for a wide public, thereby turning a modern fable into an authentic report.
-- Zentralblatt Math
The author lifts the secret of Bourbaki and presents a well-investigated history of this group and mathematicians. ... The result is a very readable and informative story.
-- Karl-Heinz Schlote, Mathematical Reviews
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Bourbaki: A Secret Society of Mathematicians
- Cover Cover11 free
- Title i2 free
- Copyright iv5 free
- Contents 16 free
- Preface 27
- 1. A Group Forms 49
- 2. The Story of a Name 2227
- 3. Young Turks against Stubborn Priests 3843
- 4. Bourbaki's Éleménts de Mathématique 5055
- 5. Towards Axioms and Structures 7075
- 6. A Snapshot of Bourbaki's Work: Filters 8691
- 7. The Bourbaki Seminar 96101
- 8. Subtle and Austere Schoolboys 104109
- 9. "For the Honor of the Human Spirit"? 116121
- 10. New Math in the Classroom 134139
- 11. An Immortal Mathematician? 146151
- Acknowledgements 154159
- Bibliography 155160
- Photo Credits 159164
- Appendix 162167
- Back Cover Back Cover1174