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A lively and vivid look at the material from function theory, including the residue calculus, supported by examples and practice exercises throughout. There is also ample discussion of the historical evolution of the theory, biographical sketches of important contributors, and citations - in the original language with their English translation - from their classical works. Yet the book is far from being a mere history of function theory, and even experts will find a few new or long forgotten gems here. Destined to accompany students making their way into this classical area of mathematics, the book offers quick access to the essential results for exam preparation. Teachers and interested mathematicians in finance, industry and science will profit from reading this again and again, and will refer back to it with pleasure.
About the author
Hans Grauert (b. 1930 in Harem /Ems, Germany) and Reinhold Remmert (b. 1930 in Osnabrück, Germany) met at the University of Münster, where they both studied mathematics and physics from 1949 to 1954. In 1950 they were invited by Heinrich Behnke and Karl Stein to attend their "Oberseminar", which was held on Saturdays, for 2 hours from 9 a.m.
Five years after the tragic events of World War 2, Behnke's old friend Henri Cartan visited Münster. His lecture on recent developments in the theory of "Several Complex Variables" was a real eye-opener for the young students and had a strongly formative influence on them: indeed this was to determine the course of their scientific research careers from then on.
In June 1954 Grauert and Remmert received their respective doctorates from the University of Münster. In 1957 they both became lecturer (Privatdozent) there. In 1959 resp. 1960, Grauert and Remmert were appointed full professors at Göttingen resp. Erlangen.
The original German edition of "Theory of Stein Spaces" was written at a time when complex spaces, coherent analytic sheaves and the so-called Theorems A and B had already become established notions and theorems. Dedicated to Karl Stein, the book was published in 1977, and the English edition was to follow in 1979. The first announcement of the book, in Springer's promotion, consisted of the picture reproduced on the inside cover flap of this book, taken during the boat trip of the annual Bonn Arbeitstagung some time earlier, showing three men on a boat, with the minimalistic caption "Grundlehren 227".
Report
R. Remmert and R.B. Burckel
Theory of Complex Functions
"Its accessibility makes it very useful for a first graduate course on complex function theory, especially where there is an opportunity for developing an interest on the part of motivated students in the history of the subject. Historical remarks abound throughout the text. Short biographies of Abel, Cauchy, Eisenstein, Euler, Riemann and Weierstrass are given. There is an extensive bibliography of classical works on complex function theory with comments on some of them. In addition, a list of modern complex function theory texts and books on the history of the subject and of mathematics is given. Throughout the book there are numerous interesting quotations. In brief, the book affords splendid opportunities for a rich treatment of the subject."-MATHEMATICAL REVIEWS
