Peter Duren - Böcker

This book comprises a broad selection of expository articles that were written in conjunction with an international conference held to honor F.W. Gehring on the occasion of his 70th birthday. The objective of both the symposium and the present volume was to survey a wide array of topics related to Gehring's fundamental research in the field of quasiconformal mappings, emphasizing the relation of these mappings to other areas of analysis. The book begins with a short biographical sketch and an overview of Gehring's mathematical achievements, including a complete list of his publications. This is followed by Olli Lehto's account of Gehring's career-long involvement with the Finnish mathematical community and his role in the evolution of the Finnish school of quasiconformal mapping. The remaining articles, written by prominent authorities in diverse branches of analysis, are arranged alphabetically. The principal speakers at the symposium were: Astala, Baernstein Earle, Jones, Kra, Lehto, Martin, Sullivan, and Va"isa"la".Other individuals, some unable to attend the conference, were invited to contribute articles to the volume, which should give readers new insights into numerous aspects of quasiconformal mappings and their applications to other fields of mathematical analysis. Friends and colleagues of Professor Gehring will be especially interested in the personal accounts of his mathematical career and the descriptions of his many important research contributions.

Harmonic mappings in the plane are univalent complex-valued harmonic functions of a complex variable. Conformal mappings are a special case where the real and imaginary parts are conjugate harmonic functions, satisfying the Cauchy-Riemann equations. Harmonic mappings were studied classically by differential geometers because they provide isothermal (or conformal) parameters for minimal surfaces. More recently they have been actively investigated by complex analysts as generalizations of univalent analytic functions, or conformal mappings. Many classical results of geometric function theory extend to harmonic mappings, but basic questions remain unresolved. This book is the first comprehensive account of the theory of planar harmonic mappings, treating both the generalizations of univalent analytic functions and the connections with minimal surfaces.  Essentially self-contained, the book contains background material in complex analysis and a full development of the classical theory of minimal surfaces, including the Weierstrass-Enneper representation. It is designed to introduce non-specialists to a beautiful area of complex analysis and geometry.

M. M. Schiffer, the dominant figure in geometric function theory in the second half of the twentieth century, was a mathematician of exceptional breadth, whose work ranged over such areas as univalent functions, conformal mapping, Riemann surfaces, partial differential equations, potential theory, fluid dynamics, and the theory of relativity. He is best remembered for the powerful variational methods he developed and applied to extremal problems in a wide variety of scientific fields Spanning seven decades, the papers collected in these two volumes represent some of Schiffer's most enduring innovations. Expert commentaries provide valuable background and survey subsequent developments. Also included are a complete bibliography and several appreciations of Schiffer's influence by collaborators and other admirers.

In August 1995 an international symposium on "Quasiconformal Mappings and Analysis" was held in Ann Arbor on the occasion of Professor Fred- erick W. Gehring's 70th birthday and his impending retirement from the Mathematics Department at the University of Michigan. The concept of the symposium was to feature broad survey talks on a wide array of topics related to Gehring's basic research contributions in the field of quasicon- formal mappings, emphasizing their relations to other parts of analysis. Principal speakers were Kari Astala, Albert Baernstein, Clifford Earle, Pe- ter Jones, Irwin Kra, OUi Lehto, Gaven Martin, Dennis Sullivan, and Jussi Vaisala. Financial support was provided by the National Science Founda- tion, with additional grants from the University of Michigan and from the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications. The symposium was a great success. The speakers rose to the occasion and presented excellent survey lectures. The present volume was conceived as a means for disseminating those expositions to a wider audience. Ad- ditional mathematicians, some of whom had not been able to attend the symposium, were invited to contribute similar articles.The result is a fit- ting tribute to Fred Gehring's pre-eminent role in developing the theory of quasiconformal mappings, through his own research and writings and lec- tures, and through his supervision of graduate students. The volume begins with descriptions of Gehring's mathematical career and an overview of his research achievements.

M. M. Schiffer, the dominant figure in geometric function theory in the second half of the twentieth century, was a mathematician of exceptional breadth, whose work ranged over such areas as univalent functions, conformal mapping, Riemann surfaces, partial differential equations, potential theory, fluid dynamics, and the theory of relativity. He is best remembered for the powerful variational methods he developed and applied to extremal problems in a wide variety of scientific fields. Spanning seven decades, the papers collected in these two volumes represent some of Schiffer's most enduring innovations. Expert commentaries provide valuable background and survey subsequent developments. Also included are a complete bibliography and several appreciations of Schiffer's influence by collaborators and other admirers.

This book gives a rigorous treatment of selected topics in classical analysis, with many applications and examples. The exposition is at the undergraduate level, building on basic principles of advanced calculus without appeal to more sophisticated techniques of complex analysis and Lebesgue integration.Among the topics covered are Fourier series and integrals, approximation theory, Stirling's formula, the gamma function, Bernoulli numbers and polynomials, the Riemann zeta function, Tauberian theorems, elliptic integrals, ramifications of the Cantor set, and a theoretical discussion of differential equations including power series solutions at regular singular points, Bessel functions, hypergeometric functions, and Sturm comparison theory. Preliminary chapters offer rapid reviews of basic principles and further background material such as infinite products and commonly applied inequalities.This book is designed for individual study but can also serve as a text for second-semester courses in advanced calculus. Each chapter concludes with an abundance of exercises. Historical notes discuss the evolution of mathematical ideas and their relevance to physical applications. Special features are capsule scientific biographies of the major players and a gallery of portraits.Although this book is designed for undergraduate students, others may find it an accessible source of information on classical topics that underlie modern developments in pure and applied mathematics.

M. M. Schiffer, the dominant figure in geometric function theory in the second half of the twentieth century, was a mathematician of exceptional breadth, whose work ranged over such areas as univalent functions, conformal mapping, Riemann surfaces, partial differential equations, potential theory, fluid dynamics, and the theory of relativity. He is best remembered for the powerful variational methods he developed and applied to extremal problems in a wide variety of scientific fields Spanning seven decades, the papers collected in these two volumes represent some of Schiffer's most enduring innovations. Expert commentaries provide valuable background and survey subsequent developments. Also included are a complete bibliography and several appreciations of Schiffer's influence by collaborators and other admirers.