ProofWiki:Mathematicians/Nicolas Bourbaki

Nicolas Bourbaki is the name given to a group of (mainly) French mathematicians whose aim was to present an account of the entirety of modern mathematics, with an emphasis on rigour and generality.

The term Bourbakism is a disparaging term for a supposed modern tendency to define intuitively simple concepts in terms of ever more abstruse and abstract concepts until the obvious becomes incomprehensible.

Nationality

French (mainly).

History

• Established: 1935

Theorems and Definitions

• Bourbaki-Witt Theorem

Books and Papers

• 1949: Sur le théorème de Zorn: Archiv der Mathematik 2:6: 434–437.

• The Éléments de mathématique (Elements of Mathematics) series, which contains the following volumes:
  • I: Théorie des Ensembles (Theory of Sets)
  • II: Algèbre (Algebra)
  • III: Topologie Générale (General Topology)
  • IV: Fonctions d'Une Variable Réelle (Functions of One Real Variable)
  • V: Espaces Vectoriels Topologiques (Topological Vector Spaces)
  • VI: Intégration (Integration)
  • VII: Algèbre Commutative (Commutative Algebra)
  • VIII: Groupes et Algèbres de Lie (Lie Groups)
  • IX: Théories spectrales (Spectral theory)

Also see

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Nicolas Bourbaki": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive