Beck's 1967 Descent Talk

Beck's 1967 Descent Talk

[Bill Lawvere]

In the Bulletin of the AMS Volume 74 (1968) page 91 one sees that
a meeting of the Society was held on Saturday November 25th, 1967
at the University of Illinois in Urbana, with over 200 people
attending. There was a session of selected 20-Minute papers on
Categorical Algebra, arranged by Professor Saunders Mac Lane.
Papers by Barr, Beck, Gray, Lawvere, Linton were included.

The abstracts for the talks at that meeting were published in the
Notices of the AMS Volume 14 (1967). On page 938 one finds
Jon Beck's abstract:

      652-8. Jon Beck, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Descent and
      standard constructions (triples).

           There is a close relationship between descent theory in
      algebraic geometry and the theory of categories which are definable
      by means of standard constructions (tripleable categories). The
      "tripleableness theorem" sheds some light on descent criteria.
      The form of Cech cohomology used in descent theory is an
      appropriate triple cohomology theory. Its interpretation is
      discussed from the triple point of view. (Received October 2, 1967.)

It is possible that someone still has notes of that lecture 40 years
later.

Bill Lawvere


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