Seeking a quote about 1930s algebraic topology

Seeking a quote about 1930s algebraic topology

[Colin McLarty]

It seems to me I recall someone, maybe Eilenberg, saying they gave a talk
at Harvard in the 1930s on algebraic topology, where someone in the
audience said the subject had reached a level of complexity that it would
not be able to sustain.

Can anyone here confirm that?  Or can someone correct me by giving a
different story that I might have confused in my memory?

best, Colin


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Re: Seeking a quote about 1930s algebraic topology

[Johannes Huebschmann]

I recall an Eilenberg quote from the 1960's

"Algebraic topology is a strange and bewildering field ... "

I guess a google search yields the source right away.

Best

Johannes




On Sun, 5 Jan 2014, Colin McLarty wrote:

> It seems to me I recall someone, maybe Eilenberg, saying they gave a talk
> at Harvard in the 1930s on algebraic topology, where someone in the
> audience said the subject had reached a level of complexity that it would
> not be able to sustain.
>
> Can anyone here confirm that?  Or can someone correct me by giving a
> different story that I might have confused in my memory?
>
> best, Colin
>


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Re: Seeking a quote about 1930s algebraic topology

[Tadeusz Litak]

On 1/5/14 5:02 PM, Colin McLarty wrote:
> It seems to me I recall someone, maybe Eilenberg, saying they gave a talk
> at Harvard in the 1930s on algebraic topology, where someone in the
> audience said the subject had reached a level of complexity that it would
> not be able to sustain.
>
> Can anyone here confirm that?  Or can someone correct me by giving a
> different story that I might have confused in my memory?

It wasn't the audience of Eilenberg's talk, but the source of the story seems to be MacLane's paper about his work in
topology. MacLane  wrote tentatively this was said by somebody attending a talk by Tucker or perhaps Steenrod. See:

http://eilenberg100.ptm.org.pl/sites/default/files/documents/the-work-of-samuel-eilenberg-in-topology.pdf

Best wishes,
t.






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