Essays on Topology

This book consists of a collection of articles dedicated to Valentin Ponaru, on topology and geometry in a broad sense. Ponaru is one of the leading mathematicians whose work had an essential impact on the development of topology in France over the last forty years of the twentieth century. The special topics addressed in this volume include hyperbolic geometry, 3-manifolds, complex and symplectic geometry, differential topology, combinatorial group theory, piecewise-linear topology, algebraic geometry, knots and links, homotopy theory, braid groups, phylogenetics, the history of geometry, and the philosophy of mathematics. This collection of articles, written by well-known researchers, provides a lively insight into a number of current research topics in geometry and topology.