How blind is your favourite cohomology theory? (Q1105863): Difference between revisions

My favorite for many years has been complex cobordism theory, which has perfect vision: the Adams-Novikov spectral sequence based on MU sees all of stable homotopy theory. But my current favorite, elliptic cohomology, has considerable blindness; the full extent has not yet been determined. Turning aside from the title of this fine expository article, what one finds is an account of the central role played by the Adams spectral sequence in algebraic topology. The tale begins with mod 2 cohomology, the Hopf invariant and Steenrod squares and heads toward the corresponding Adams spectral sequence which sees the 2-completion \(\{X,Y\}_{\hat 2}\) of the stable maps from X to Y. There are concluding remarks about other cohomology theories, about equivariant theories, and about how to establish the existence and properties of the Adams spectral sequence. This is an ideal article for impressionable students, who might also like to know that the 1957 notes by \textit{N. E. Steenrod} cited in the bibliography, entitled ``Cohomology operations, and obstructions to extending continuous functions'' have been published in Adv. Math. 8, 371-416 (1972; Zbl 0236.55018).