John W. Milnor

Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 1965

Soon after winning the Fields Medal in 1962, a young John Milnor gave these now-famous lectures and wrote his timeless Topology from the Differentiable Viewpoint, which has influenced generations of mathematicians. The lectures, filmed by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA), were unavailable for years but recently resurfaced. With Simons Foundation funding, the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute has produced these digital reproductions as a resource for the mathematics and science communities.

Milnor was awarded the Abel Prize in 2011 for his work in topology, geometry and algebra.

The sequel to these lectures, written several mathematical lives — and a Wolf and an Abel Prize later —  is “Differential Topology Forty-six Years Later,” downloadable via the MAA website.