The golden age of immersion theory in topology: 1959--1973. A mathematical survey from a historical perspective

2005/01/25 by David Spring · 1 citation
Mathematics · Computer Science · #Homotopy and Cohomology in Algebraic Topology #Geometric Analysis and Curvature Flows #Topological and Geometric Data Analysis #Perspective (graphical) #Immersion (mathematics) #Topology (electrical circuits) #Period (music) #Mathematics #General topology #Pure mathematics #Geometry #Art #Aesthetics #Combinatorics #Topological space

paper · pdf · doi:10.1090/s0273-0979-05-01048-7

openalex publication_date 2005/01/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/07

Abstract

We review the history of modern immersion-theoretic topology during the period 1959–1973, beginning with the work of S. Smale followed by the important contributions from the Leningrad school of topology, including the work of M. Gromov. We discuss the development of the major geometrical ideas in immersion-theoretic topology during this period. Historical remarks are included and technical concepts are introduced informally.

Citations

• Metrics of Negative Ricci Curvature
• The Immersion Conjecture for Differentiable Manifolds
• Existence of Codimension-One Foliations
• Feuilletages sur les variétés ouvertes
• The theory of foliations of codimension greater than one
• On the triangulation of manifolds and the Hauptvermutung
• Embeddings of Stein Manifolds of Dimension n into the Affine Space of Dimension 3n/2 + 1
• A Classification of Immersions of the Two-Sphere

Cited by

• Immersion (mathematics) [wikipedia]