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."

Central to this collection of papers are new developments in the general theory of localization of spaces. This field has undergone tremendous change of late and is yielding new insight into the mysteries of classical homotopy theory. The present volume comprises the refereed articles submitted at the Conference on Algebraic Topology held in Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain, in June 1994. Several comprehensive articles on general localization clarify the basic tools and give a report on the state of the art in the subject matter. The text is therefore accessible not only to the professional mathematician but also to the advanced student.

A concise introduction to the techniques used to prove the Baum-Connes conjecture. The Baum-Connes conjecture predicts that the K-homology of the reduced C DEGREES*-algebra of a group can be computed as the equivariant K-homology of the classifying space for proper actions. The approach is expository, but it contains proofs of many basic results on topological K-homology and the K-theory of C DEGREES*-algebras. It features a detailed introduction to Bredon homology for infinite groups, with applications to K-homology. It also contains a detailed discussion of naturality questions concerning the assembly map, a topic not well documented in the literature.

The book is aimed at advanced graduate students and researchers in the area, leading to current research problems.