Topology and Geometry

The golden age of mathematics-that was not the age of Euclid, it is ours. C. J. KEYSER This time of writing is the hundredth anniversary of the publication (1892) of Poincare's first note on topology, which arguably marks the beginning of the subject of algebraic, or "combinatorial," topology. There was earlier scattered work by Euler, Listing (who coined the word "topology"), Mobius and his band, Riemann, Klein, and Betti. Indeed, even as early as 1679, Leibniz indicated the desirability o...