Breaking Through Dimensional Barriers: The Story of Smale

Author: (USA) Batterson, S. (Author), Kuang Zhongping (Translator)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: Smale is a contemporary mathematical master with a unique life experience and won the Fields Medal in 1966. He has made outstanding achievements in many fields of mathematics, such as being the first to prove that it is theoretically possible to turn a sphere inside out, and proposing the precursor to the concept of chaos—the Smale horseshoe. Smale first broke through the dimension barrier and made significant progress on the high-dimensional Poincaré conjecture, proving that a six-dimensional world could be simpler than a three-dimensional one. Moreover, Smale was a bold rider who initiated an anti-war movement aimed at ending the Vietnam War and engaged in an unwavering struggle to defend academic freedom against U.S. scientific management agencies. Smale has a rich array of hobbies and is widely recognized as a top mineral collector, as well as being passionate about photography, sailing, and mountaineering. This book, written by a mathematician who is very familiar with him, not only introduces the fascinating aspects of Smale's mathematical achievements in extremely accessible language but also presents a portrait of a mathematician who is unconventional, courageous in pursuit, and dedicated to exploration.