This book is both more and less than a history of the theory of Lie groups during the period 1869-1926. No attempt has been made to provide an exhaustive treatment of all aspects of the theory. Instead, I have focused upon its origins and upon the subsequent development of its structural as pects, particularly the structure and representation of semisimple groups. In dealing with this more limited subject matter, considerable emphasis has been placed upon the motivation behind the mathematics. This has meant paying close attention to the historical context: the mathematical or physical considerations that motivate or inform the work of a particular mathematician as well as the disciplinary ideals of a mathematical school that encourage research in certain directions. As a result, readers will ob tain in the ensuing pages glimpses of and, I hope, the flavor of many areas of nineteenth and early twentieth century geometry, algebra, and analysis. They will also encounter many of the mathematicians of the period, includ ing quite a few not directly connected with Lie groups, and will become acquainted with some of the major mathematical schools. In this sense, the book is more than a history of the theory of Lie groups. It provides a different perspective on the history of mathematics between, roughly, 1869 and 1926. Hence the subtitle.

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Reviews

"....this study is just as clearly a stunning achievement. Few historians of mathematics have made a serious attempt to cross the bridge joining the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and those who have made the journey have tended to avert their eyes from the mainstream traffic....the single greatest merit of Hawkins' book is that the author tries to place the reader in the middle of the action, offering a close up look at how mathematics gets made...Hawkins' account of this strange but wonderful saga resurrects a heroic chapter in the history of mathematics. For anyone with a serious interest in the rich background developments that led to modern Lie theory, this book should be browsed, read, savored, and read again."

-Notices of the AMS

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Emergence of the Theory of Lie Groups
Book Subtitle: An Essay in the History of Mathematics 1869–1926
Authors: Thomas Hawkins
Series Title: Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1202-7
Publisher: Springer New York, NY
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 2000
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-387-98963-1Published: 19 July 2000
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4612-7042-3Published: 27 September 2012
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4612-1202-7Published: 06 December 2012
Series ISSN: 2196-8810
Series E-ISSN: 2196-8829
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 566
Topics: Group Theory and Generalizations

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

Front Matter

Back Matter

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