scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2050145

Wilhelm Ljunggren, 1905--1973, was born in Oslo. His teacher and supervisor for his master thesis was Thoralf Skolem. He was also inspired by several important Scandinavian mathematicians: Tryve Nagell, Øystein Ore, Carl Størmer and Axel Thue. Most of his works are devoted to Number Theory, especially Diophantine Equations. I quote S. Selberg's Memorial Speech on Professor Ljunggren: ``He had a mastery talent for carrying through proofs where large amounts of calculation were involved. The English mathematician Cassels says in a paper that the \(p\)-adic method of Skolem often requires heroic calculations, and refers in this connection to a paper by Ljunggren. The reproduction in these two volumes of Ljunggren's 56 papers, problems and solutions, is preceded by an invaluable 60 pages \textit{guide to the work of Ljunggren} written by P.~Ribenboim. He classifies the papers into 16 topics; here are -- in my opinion -- the main ones: -- the equation \(Ax^m-By^n=C\), where \(m\), \(n\) are even and \((m,n)\not=(2,2)\), (14 references), -- the equation \(Ax^4+Bx^2+C=Dy^2\), -- polynomial exponential equations, -- cubic equations. Among other things, Ljunggren worked also on arithmetical properties of binomial coefficients, symmetric functions, irreducibility of lacunary polynomials\dots Ribenboim gives also a very useful complete index of the Diophantine equations studied by Ljunggren, classified in the spirit of Mordell (i.e. by ascending degrees). For each of these 16 topics, Ribenboim gives a detailed study of Ljunggren's related papers, with the statement of the main results and indications on the progress between successive works. The publication of this collection is a big event for people interested in elementary Number Theory and Diophantine Equations. Ljunggren's papers are scattered in many places, some appear in rare booklets, and were very often almost impossible to find (even on the net). I am quite surprised that it was possible to realize this collection, and Paulo Ribenboim did an extraordinary job to succeed in this challenge. The mathematical community is greatly indebted to him.

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