This volume includes expositions of key developments over the past four decades in commutative and non-commutative algebra, algebraic \(K\)-theory, infinite group theory, and applications of algebra to topology. Many of the articles are based on lectures given at a conference at Columbia University honoring the 65th birthday of Hyman Bass. Important topics related to Bass's mathematical interests are surveyed by leading experts in the field. Of particular note is a professional autobiography of Professor Bass and an article by Deborah Ball on mathematical education. The range of subjects covered in the book offers a convenient single source for topics in the field.

Readership

Graduate students and research mathematicians interested in associative rings and algebras; mathematical historians and educators.

Table of Contents

• J. Ewing -- On the occasion of the 65th birthday of Hyman Bass
• H. Bass -- A professional autobiography
• D. L. Ball -- Crossing boundaries to examine the mathematics entailed in elementary teaching
• E. Formanek -- Bass's work on the Jacobian conjecture
• R. M. Guralnick and C. J. Pappacena -- Torsion in genus class groups
• C. Huneke -- Hyman Bass and ubiquity: Gorenstein rings
• I. Kaplansky -- A salute to Euler and Dickson on the occasion of Hy's 65th birthday
• T. Y. Lam -- Bass's work in ring theory and projective modules
• A. Lubotzky -- One for almost all: Generation of \(SL(n,p)\) by subsets of \(SL(n,\mathbb{Z})\)
• A. R. Magid -- Deformations of representations
• S. Mozes -- Trees, lattices and commensurators
• M. P. Murthy -- A survey of obstruction theory for projective modules of top rank
• A. S. Rapinchuk -- The congruence subgroup problem
• P. B. Shalen -- Three-manifold topology and the tree for PSL\(_2\): The Smith conjecture and beyond
• C. A. Weibel -- The development of algebraic \(K\)-theory before 1980