The seminal ‘MIT notes’ of Dennis Sullivan were issued in June 1970 and were widely circulated at the time. The notes had a - jor in?uence on the development of both algebraic and geometric topology, pioneering the localization and completion of spaces in homotopy theory, including p-local, pro?nite and rational homotopy theory, le- ing to the solution of the Adams conjecture on the relationship between vector bundles and spherical ?brations, the formulation of the ‘Sullivan conjecture’ on the contractibility of the space of maps from the classifying space of a ?nite group to a ?nite dimensional CW complex, theactionoftheGalois groupoverQofthealgebraicclosureQof Q on smooth manifold structures in pro?nite homotopy theory, the K-theory orientation ofPL manifolds and bundles. Some of this material has been already published by Sullivan him- 1 self: in an article in the Proceedings of the 1970 Nice ICM, and in the 1974 Annals of Mathematics papers Genetics of homotopy theory and the Adams conjecture and The transversality character- 2 istic class and linking cycles in surgery theory . Many of the ideas originating in the notes have been the starting point of subsequent 1 reprinted at the end of this volume 2 joint with John Morgan vii viii 3 developments . However, the text itself retains a unique ?avour of its time, and of the range of Sullivan’s ideas.
First-time publication of a work of major importance in the development of topology Full of ideas on the applications of homotopy theory to geometric topology Of both historic and current interest to topologists
Dennis P. Sullivan
Finite Homotopy K-theory Manifold Topology algebra brandonwiskunde fibrations geometry homotopy theory
From the reviews:
"In 1970, Sullivan circulated a set of notes, the ‘MIT notes’, introducing localization and completion of topological spaces to homotopy theory, and other important concepts … that have had a major influence on the development of topology. … The notes remain worth reading for the boldness of their ideas, the clear mastery of available structure they command, and the fresh picture they provide for geometric topology. The editor must be thanked for making the notes available to another generation of topologists." (John McCleary, Mathematical Reviews, Issue 2006 m)