Topology Atlas Document # topd-04 | Production Editor: Thomas M. Zachariah

TOPOLOGICAL COMMENTARY

Volume 6, #1, March 10, 2001

Edited by Melvin Henriksen

commentary@mail.mathatlas.yorku.ca

I continue to invite commentary on any article in any issue of TopCom or on any topic of general interest to topologists, including news about topologists or topological activity. We will post items in Topological Commentary as they arrive. When enough items have been posted in any year, a new issue will be started.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Robert L. Blair (1927-1988)
  2. Another Mystery Photo
  3. A history of the Summer Topology Conferences
  4. Edwin Hewitt (1920-1999) by Walter Schempp
  5. Edwin Hewitt as Topologist: An Appreciation by W. W. Comfort
  6. Identity of the mathematician in the mystery photo revealed
  7. A photo from a conference on Ordered Algebraic Systems
  8. News about Alexander Arhangelskii
  9. International Conference "Filomat 2001"
  10. Photos from the Ben Fitzpatrick Memorial Miniconference
  11. Special session in Topology and its Applications
  12. "Once Upon a Dimension" by Gavin McNett
  13. "The Continuum Hypothesis, Part I" by Hugh Woodin

1. Robert L. Blair (1927-1988)

by Mary Anne Swardson

He was a friend and a topologist whose work has been recognized and appreciated more after his premature death than while he was alive. So I asked his PhD student Professor Mary Anne Swardson of Ohio University to write the memoir that follows.
-Mel

Robert. L. Blair, a Memoir

2. Another Mystery Photo

Thanks to Jerry Vaughan, editor of Topology and its Applications, our long dormant mystery photo contest is revived. Kudos will go to the first one to recognize this famous topologist. Please send your answer to: Henriksen@hmc.edu.

3. A history of the Summer Topology Conferences

The Summer Conference Series in Topology and Applications began in 1984 at the City College of New York. It was started by Ralph Kopperman under the title Conference on Limits. A brief history of these conferences may be found at the url: http://sumtopo.home.att.net/history.html.

4. Edwin Hewitt (1920-1999)

by Walter Schempp

Recently Professor Walter Schempp wrote an article in German entitled Edwin Hewitt (1920-1999) that appeared in Results in Mathematics 38 (2000), 199-203. This journal is published by Birkhauser Verlag. We are indebted to Professor Schempp and to Birkhauser Verlag for giving us permission to reproduce this article in Topology Atlas. Two versions appear below; the author's in German and one in English translated by Professor Burckel of Kansas State University.

Edwin Hewitt (1920-1999) by Walter Schempp
English text
PDF file in English
German text
PDF file in German

5. Edwin Hewitt as Topologist: An Appreciation

by W. W. Comfort

The memorial that follows was written by W.W. Comfort on Hewitt's contributions to topology. His contributions to analysis were described by Kenneth Ross in TopCom, Volume 4 #2.

Edwin Hewitt as Topologist: An Appreciation by W. W. Comfort.

6. Identity of the mathematician in the mystery photo revealed

Only two messages were received on this subject ...
See Identity of the mathematician in the mystery photo revealed

7. A photo from a conference on Ordered Algebraic Systems

This conference, in which many of the papers given had a lot of topological content, was held at the University of Florida in Gainesville February 27-March 3, 2001 ...
See A photo from a conference on Ordered Algebraic Systems

8. News about Alexander Arhangelskii

See News about Alexander Arhangelskii

9. International Conference "Filomat 2001"

University of Nis, Yugoslavia, August 26-30, 2001.
See http://www.pmf.ni.ac.yu/filomat2001/

10. Photos from the Ben Fitzpatrick Memorial Miniconference

Photos taken by Jerry Vaughan at the Ben Fitzpatrick Memorial Miniconference held at Auburn University February 9-10, 2001. Thanks to Professor Vaughan are in order. Photos taken by others may also appear later
See ftp://math3.uncg.edu/Class_Materials/vaughanj/fitz/fitz.html.
and ftp://math3.uncg.edu/Class_Materials/vaughanj/fitz/jhbuffet.html

11. Special session in Topology and its Applications

The American Mathematical Society has agreed to a Special Session in "Topology and its Applications" at its 2002 Annual Meeting, January 6-9 in San Diego. There will be senior researchers speaking at this session, but this note is to find some recent Ph. D.'s with good results to present in a 20-minute special session talk. If you would like to be considered: Please respond by June 30. It would be very helpful to us if you could list two senior researchers who could recommend you. Give us an address (preferably email) which will be current this summer. Include a title and abstract for your talk. Send your response to the email address: TOPANN@att.net. If you are chosen, you can expect an invitation to participate by July 10. Note that neither we nor the AMS can pay expenses of speakers at this Special Session.

Shura Arhangelskii, U. of Ohio
Mel Henriksen, Harvey Mudd Coll.
Jed Keesling, U. of Florida
Ralph Kopperman, City College of CUNY
John Mayer, U. of Alabama at Birmingham

12. "Once Upon a Dimension" by Gavin McNett

We are indebted to Scott Williams for calling our attention to this sequel to its famous predecessor "Flatland" in which mathematics was used cleverly to parody Victorian society. Here our favorite subject is used to parody current times.

The url http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2001/06/18/flatterland/index.html will bring you to a place on the web site of Salon magazine where McNett's story is posted. This author has written many articles for Salon.

13. "The Continuum Hypothesis, Part I" by Hugh Woodin

In the June/July issue of the Notices of the AMS, there is an article by Hugh Woodin entitled The Continuum Hypothesis, Part I.

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