Michael Friedman is a historian of mathematics and a senior lecturer at the Tel Aviv University. The focus of his research is how material, visual and symbolical knowledge and practices in mathematics interact with each other. More specifically, his research examines how material practices (folding, weaving, braiding, knotting, as well as three-dimensional models) prompt symbolical mathematical knowledge. Recent publications: A History of Folding in Mathematics. Mathematizing the Margins (Birkhäuser, 2018).

“There are brief biographies of the principal mathematicians discussed in Ramified surfaces, the expansive account of Jewish mathematicians like Moishezon whose emigration from the USSR was denied or delayed for an indefinite amount of time is a welcome reminder that mathematics is a human enterprise. This book is suitable for advanced graduate students and historiansof mathematics.” (Judith R. Goodstein, Mathematical Reviews, September, 2023)

• Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Prolog: Separate beginnings during the 19th century.- Chapter 3: 1900s–1930s: Branch curves and the Italian school of algebraic geometry.- Chapter 4: Chisini’s branch curves: the decline of the classical approach.- Chapter 5. From the 1970s onwards: the rise of braid monodromy factorization.-Chapter 6: Epilogue: On ramified and ignored spaces.

Michael Friedman is a historian of mathematics and a senior lecturer at the Tel Aviv University. The focus of his research is how material, visual and symbolical knowledge and practices in mathematics interact with each other. More specifically, his research examines how material practices (folding, weaving, braiding, knotting, as well as three-dimensional models) prompt symbolical mathematical knowledge. Recent publications: A History of Folding in Mathematics. Mathematizing the Margins (Birkhäuser, 2018).

“There are brief biographies of the principal mathematicians discussed in Ramified surfaces, the expansive account of Jewish mathematicians like Moishezon whose emigration from the USSR was denied or delayed for an indefinite amount of time is a welcome reminder that mathematics is a human enterprise. This book is suitable for advanced graduate students and historiansof mathematics.” (Judith R. Goodstein, Mathematical Reviews, September, 2023)

• Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Prolog: Separate beginnings during the 19th century.- Chapter 3: 1900s–1930s: Branch curves and the Italian school of algebraic geometry.- Chapter 4: Chisini’s branch curves: the decline of the classical approach.- Chapter 5. From the 1970s onwards: the rise of braid monodromy factorization.-Chapter 6: Epilogue: On ramified and ignored spaces.

Michael Friedman is a historian of mathematics and a senior lecturer at the Tel Aviv University. The focus of his research is how material, visual and symbolical knowledge and practices in mathematics interact with each other. More specifically, his research examines how material practices (folding, weaving, braiding, knotting, as well as three-dimensional models) prompt symbolical mathematical knowledge. Recent publications: A History of Folding in Mathematics. Mathematizing the Margins (Birkhäuser, 2018).

“There are brief biographies of the principal mathematicians discussed in Ramified surfaces, the expansive account of Jewish mathematicians like Moishezon whose emigration from the USSR was denied or delayed for an indefinite amount of time is a welcome reminder that mathematics is a human enterprise. This book is suitable for advanced graduate students and historiansof mathematics.” (Judith R. Goodstein, Mathematical Reviews, September, 2023)

• Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Prolog: Separate beginnings during the 19th century.- Chapter 3: 1900s–1930s: Branch curves and the Italian school of algebraic geometry.- Chapter 4: Chisini’s branch curves: the decline of the classical approach.- Chapter 5. From the 1970s onwards: the rise of braid monodromy factorization.-Chapter 6: Epilogue: On ramified and ignored spaces.