Poincaré and the early history of 3-manifolds
Poincaré and the early history of 3-manifolds
Recent developments in the theory of 3-manifolds, centered around the Poincaré conjecture, use methods that were not envisioned by Poincaré and his contemporaries. Nevertheless, the main themes of 3-manifold topology originated in Poincaréâs time. The purpose of this article is to reveal the origins of the subject by revisiting the …