This collection of survey lectures in mathematics traces the career of Beno Eckmann, whose work ranges across a broad spectrum of mathematical concepts from topology through homological algebra to group theory. One of our most influential living mathematicians, Eckmann has been associated for nearly his entire professional life with the Swiss Federal Technical University (ETH) at Zurich, as student, lecturer, professor, and professor emeritus.

This volume contains research papers and survey articles written by Beno Eckmann from 1941 to 1986. The aim of the compilation is to provide a general view of the breadth of Eckmann s mathematical work. His influence was particularly strong in the development of many subfields of topology and algebra, where he repeatedly pointed out close, and often surprising, connections between them and other areas. The surveys are exemplary in terms of how they make difficult mathematical ideas easily comprehensible and accessible even to non-specialists. The topics treated here can be classified into the following, not entirely unrelated areas: algebraic topology (homotopy and homology theory), algebra, group theory and differential geometry. Beno Eckmann was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Lausanne, 1942-48, and Principal of the Institute for Mathematical Research at the ETH Zurich, 1964-84, where he was therefore an emeritus professor."

This collection of survey lectures in mathematics traces the career of Beno Eckmann, whose work ranges across a broad spectrum of mathematical concepts from topology through homological algebra to group theory. One of our most influential living mathematicians, Eckmann has been associated for nearly his entire professional life with the Swiss Federal Technical University (ETH) at Zurich, as student, lecturer, professor, and professor emeritus.

Mathematics has a certain mystique, for it is pure and ex- act, yet demands remarkable creativity. This reputation is reinforced by its characteristic abstraction and its own in- dividual language, which often disguise its origins in and connections with the physical world. Publishing mathematics, therefore, requires special effort and talent. Heinz G-tze, who has dedicated his life to scientific pu- blishing, took up this challenge with his typical enthusi- asm. This Festschrift celebrates his invaluable contribu- tions to the mathematical community, many of whose leading members he counts among his personal friends. The articles, written by mathematicians from around the world and coming from diverse fields, portray the important role of mathematics in our culture. Here, the reflections of important mathematicians, often focused on the history of mathematics, are collected, in recognition of Heinz G-tze's life-longsupport of mathematics.

From the preface: "Hopf algebras, Hopf fibration of spheres, Hopf-Rinow complete Riemannian manifolds, Hopf theorem on the ends of groups - can one imagine modern mathematics without all this? Many other concepts and methods, fundamental in various mathematical disciplines, also go back directly or indirectly to the work of Heinz Hopf: homological algebra, singularities of vector fields and characteristic classes, group-like spaces, global differential geometry, and the whole algebraisation of topology with its influence on group theory, analysis and algebraic geometry. It is astonishing to realize that this oeuvre of a whole scientific life consists of only about 70 writings. Astonishing also the transparent and clear style, the concreteness of the problems, and how abstract and far-reaching the methods Hopf invented."