A study of Maurice Fréchet: II. Mainly about his work on general topology, 1909-1928 (Q1071004)

The present one is the second essay by the author on Fréchet [for part I, cf. ibid. 27, 233-295 (1982; Zbl 0493.01020)] and his work and is mainly devoted to the work on abstract spaces and general analysis. In the first essay the study was on Fréchet's early work on abstract point set theory (i.e. general topology) including his doctoral dissertation of 1906 and on his work on linear functionals including the representation theorem for continuous linear functionals on the class \(L^ 2\). The third essay is proposed to be on Fréchet's work on polynomial operations, differentials, power series expansions and general analysis in linear spaces. In this essay, the author lists all the publications of Fréchet from 1909 through 1928 - the year in which his book on abstract spaces was published. The essay contains an overview of Fréchet's career between 1907-1928. As an indication of the nature of the essay, titles of the sections that follow can be quoted: Fréchet and abstract point set theory 1909-1913; neighbourhoods in abstract general topology before 1917; covering theorems and compact sets; Fréchet's new V- classes and his H-classes; further consideration of covering theorems and compactness; Fréchet's Esquisse d'une théorie des ensembles abstraits; Alexandroff, Urysohn, and Fréchet 1923-1924; Alexandroff and Fréchet after 1924; Fréchet's book: Les espaces abstraits; Fréchet and Paris Académie des Sciences. In the concluding section, the author observes that Fréchet's accomplishments in topology during the period from 1909-1928 were, although not negligible, much less important than and not as significant in substance and influence as his doctoral thesis. This essay is an important asset to any topologist as also it is to the history of mathematics. It is also of pleasant reading because of the personal touches off and on.