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Ten years have passed since the publication of the first English edition. "Ten years is a long time, even when you are not in jail. " If we recall that the article on Riemann appeared in (Nature) in 1976, this Russian vaudeville joke is more than - propriate. Only the author's youth can account for the insane enterprise of presenting the scientific achievements and the biography of Riemann in 60 pages and the c- nection between physics and topology in the same space. Judging from the fact that the book sold out and got favorable reviews, there is a demand for publications of this type. It seems to me that popularizations aimed not at a narrow specialist but at a broader reader are especially needed nowadays. Specialists obtain information in their fields almost instantly thanks to the Internet, but to find out what is happening in contiguous fields, what problems and results are of great interest here, is not at all easy. Returning to my own book, I note with a certain pride that at least I seem to have evaluated accurately the trends in the development of theoretical physics. It is the combination of physics with topology and algebraic geometry that has led to the brightest achievements of mathematical physics in the last decade. It suffices to note the remarkable results of S.
List of contents
Bernhard Riemann.- Beginnings.- Doctoral Dissertation.- Privatdozent at Göttingen.- Riemann and Dirichlet.- Full Professor in Göttingen.- Last Years.- Posthumous Fate.- Topological Themes in Contemporary Physics.- Topological Structures.- The Connectivity of a Manifold and Quantization of Magnetic Flux.- Systems with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking.- Topology and Liquid Crystals.- Theory of Gauge Fields.- Topological Particles.- Soliton Particles.- Knots, Links, and Physics.- What Next?.- A Brief Historical Survey.
Summary
The significantly expanded second edition of this book combines a fascinating account of the life and work of Bernhard Riemann with a lucid discussion of current interaction between topology and physics.
Report
"This is a new translation of a book first published in English in 1987... Translated from Russian...it consists of two separate but related works. The first is an account of the life and work of Riemann, the second an account of several different topics in physics which are illuminated by the introduction of topological ideas. The discussion of Riemann is even better in the new edition. The mathematical account is richer and various errors have been corrected... The second half has been revised in a similar fashion... It has also been enriched by a new chapter which starts with von Neumann algebras and the work of Vaughn Jones... The book does three things very well: it reminds us of the range and depth of Riemann's interests, which are emblematic of what the author values in mathematical physics; describes some of the many successes of Russian mathematicians and physicists; and it provides a lucid account of some modern work in which topology is genuinely applied. Books like this are vital for the health of mathematics and it is to be hoped that more will be written."
---Mathematical Reviews
"The book is highly recommendable-for students and scientific workers-not only for the valuable information in it, but also for its spirit: history and higher mathematics are not dry here; they become alive and motivate further studies."
---ZAA
