Lobachevski Illuminated

Lobachevski Illuminated

Seth Braver
Role: Author
Awarded the Mathematical Association of America’s Beckenbach Book Prize in 2015.

Lobachevski Illuminated provides a historical introduction to non-Euclidean geometry. Lobachevski’s trailblazing explorations of non-Euclidean geometry constitute a crucial episode in the history of mathematics, but they were not widely recognized as such until after his death. Within these pages, readers will be guided step-by-step, through a new translation of Lobachevski’s groundbreaking book, The Theory of Parallels. Extensive commentary situates Lobachevski’s work in its mathematical, historical and philosophical context, thus granting readers a vision of the mysteries and beautiful world of non-Euclidean geometry as seen through the eyes of one of its discoverers. Although Lobachevski’s 170-year-old text is challenging to read on its own, Seth Braver’s carefully arranged “illuminations’’ render this classic accessible to modern readers (student, professional mathematician, or layman).