Recent Publications

日本語

Geometry and Analysis on Manifolds (Takushiro Ochiai, Yoshiaki Maeda, Toshiki Mabuchi, Coeditors) will be published by Springer/Birkhauser in 2015

This volume is a collection of mathematical articles contributed by colleagues and friends of Shoshichi Kobayashi. The book will be published by Birkhauser Publishing Company as Progress in Mathematics, Vol. 308, Springer International Publishing. It is scheduled to be published by the summer of 2015.


“Academic genealogy of Shoshichi Kobayashi and individuals who influenced him” by Hisashi Kobayashi

This article has been prepared for the above mentioned volume, and it is the only article with no equations in the volume. By courtesy of the publisher, a PDF file of the author’s manuscript has been uploaded for the benefit of interested readers of the newsletter. Please note that in the printed version the source or copyright information of each photo will be provided. Please click here to read the article.


“Two Essays from Mathematicians Who Lost Their Faces,” Shoshichi Kobayashi and Translated by Hisashi Kobayashi, in Notices of the American Mathematical Society, December 2014 (Volume 61, Issue 11), pp. 1343-1344.

The following two essays were published

  • President Lincoln and Euclid
  • Mathematicians and Politicians


“Selected Essays from Mathematicians Who Lost Their Faces,” Shoshichi Kobayashi and Translated by Hisashi Kobayashi.

In addition to the above two essays the following four essays (shown in bold face) were translated and uploaded on the website.

  • Pure versus Applied
  • Two Mathematicians Who Lost Their Faces
  • Revisiting Ancient Greek Mathematics
  • President Lincoln and Euclid
  • Archimedes and Cicero
  • Mathematicians and Politicians


“Mathematicians Who Lost Their Faces—Essays in Idleness on Mathematics,” (Iwanami Publisher, July 2013)

BookCoverA collection of essays (in Japanese) by Shoshichi Kobayashi entitled “Mathematicians Who Lost Their Faces—Essays on Mathematics in Idleness “ will be published by Iwanami Publisher on July 30, 2013.

ISBN978-4-00-005217-7 C0041. For details (in Japanese) visit URL:
http://www.iwanami.co.jp/cgi-bin/isearch?head=y&isbn=ISBN4-00-005217

From the Publisher’s flier:

The first essay by the author of internationally known accomplishments in research on differential geometry and complex manifolds. This collection of small pieces with the title “Essays in Idleness on Mathematics (‘Suugaku Tsurezure’)” has become his posthumous work, without being completed. By reading his essays on the real images of mathematicians, how mathematical symbols were created, what is “Beauty of mathematics,” we sense the author’s deep thought on mathematics and mathematicians.

Message from the Editor of Iwanami Publisher:

Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi who is internationally recognized for his achievements in research on differential geometry and complex manifolds passed away unexpectedly in the summer of 2012. This manuscript was originally prepared for publication in our Science Library Series. Our intention was to ask Professor Kobayashi to “cook” various topics on mathematics from his point of view so that the general reader can taste fun of mathematics, and joys of mathematical thinking.

In the spring of 2012, I received a package from him. The enclosed letter said, “This manuscript is yet to be completed. I would like to spend more time to polish and finish it by the end of this year. I am sending you this copy as my progress report.” From the manuscript handwritten on Japanese writing pads filled with his familiar writing style, I sensed his personality. While I was looking forward to the completion of the manuscript , I was informed of the saddening news of his unexpected demise. That bundle of copies received in the spring turned out to become a posthumous manuscript.

Although he considered the manuscript to be incomplete, I consulted with his family members and his close associates and have turned it into this book, for which I would like to thank many individuals.

In order to see the Table of Contents, click URL http://www.iwanami.co.jp/cgi-bin/isearch?head=y&isbn=ISBN4-00-005217 and then click “MORE INFO”at the right bottom.

Shown below is its English translation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Essays on Mathematics in Idleness

Pure vs. Applied/Proof from which we feel beauty of mathematics/Why decimal system?/Mathematicians who loved mountains/ Convenient world/Are there many odd or eccentric people among mathematicians?

II. Tidbits in Mathematical History

Mathematical families/Names and faces of mathematicians/Two mathematicians who lost their faces/Birth of symbols for differentiation/Symbols for tensor analysis/With two names

III. Fascinating Greek Mathematics

Visit mathematics of ancient Greece/President Lincoln and Euclid/What is Euclid’s Elements?/Solving quadratic equations/Pyramid and prism/Man who measured the size of the earth/Archimedes and Cicero/Figure inscribed on Archimedes’tombstone/Thoughts on infinitesimal/Archimedes and the volume of a sphere

IV. Mathematics and Education

Mathematical circles/International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM)/ICM and I/Mathematicians and Politicians/Mathematical Education

[Commentaries]

Memory of my brother Shoshichi (Hisashi Kobayashi)

In lieu of Postscript (Takushiro Ochiai)

Reference: External Review Report on Mathematical Curriculums for the Freshman and

Sophomore (Reporter: Shoshichi Kobayashi)

Biosketch


(Only in Japanese)

「この数学者に出会えてよかった:中学時代の恩師林宗男」
小林昭七

2011年5月に出版された表題の本の中で、小林昭七は長野県野沢中学(現在の野沢北高校)時代の恩師林宗男先生から数学を学ぶ喜びを得たことを綴る。

この数学者に出会えてよかった数学との出会いで、良い先生・良い数学者に出会うことは、大きな要因です。そこで16人の数学者に、人との出会いの不思議さ・大切さを自由に書いて頂きました。

はじめに

” 数学との出会い”をテーマに、小社は『この数学書がおもしろい』『この定理が美しい』の2冊を刊行しました。本および研究分野との出会いに焦点をあてまし たが、数学にとってもう一つ大きな要因は数学者との出会いであると思われます。そこで今回、3部作のまとめという位置付けで、数学者との出会いをテーマに 本書を企画致しました。

良い先生・良い数学者に出会うことは、数学を志すときに非常に大きな要素であると言われます。数学者に魅了されて研 究分野を選ばれた人も多くいらっしゃることと思います。出会いのエピソード、影響を受けたこと、数学者として学んだこと・魅了されたこと、人間としての交 流などなど語れば尽くせないものが数多くあるのではないかと考えました。そこで、16人の数学者のかたに、ご自身にとっての”この”数学者との出会いをご 自由にお書きいただきました。併せて、これから数学を目指そう、あるいは、いま目指している若いかたを読者として意識していただくことも御願いを致しまし た。

本書を通して、また既刊の2冊を含めて、これから数学を目指そうという読者のかたに、”数学との出会い”の大切さを伝えることができたら幸いです。

また、ご執筆を頂きましたかたがたに改めて感謝を申し上げます。

2011年5月 東日本大震災後 2か月
数学書房編集部

目次

  • 青本和彦: J. Leray教授との2年間
  • 小野 孝: 二人の巨星 C. Chevalley, A. Weil
  • 加藤十吉: 一期一会 野口 広
  • 河東泰之: 型破りの数学者 V. F. R. Jones
  • 河野實彦: 愛すべき数学者 Raymond Gerard
  • 小谷元子: 「以後の風景」のなかで, 混沌の裏には単純があると学ぶ Gromov,砂田利一
  • 小林昭七: 中学時代の恩師 林宗男
    1. 野沢中学と林宗男先生
    2. イプシロン―デルタ
    3. 放課後
    4. 高校進学
  • 杉山健一: 書物を通じて人と知り合う 岡潔, 小平邦彦, そして朝永振一郎
  • 高橋陽一郎: ボルツマンの夢 Ya. G. Sinai
  • 高橋礼司: ジャン・デルサルトへの想い
  • 武部尚志: レニングラードでの出会いから Evgeni Sklyanin
  • 西川青季: 情熱の人 小畠守生
  • 原田耕一郎: 古希に思う J. G. Thompson
  • 村上 斉: 数学者とはどうあるべきか Hugh Morton
  • 村瀬元彦: 子供の目 Maxim Kontsevich
  • 山本昌宏: 楽しめ人生, 楽しめ数学 Rudolf Gorenflo


「いまを生きるための教室;美への渇き、数学」
小林昭七

角川書店 (平成24年5月25日初版発行)

今を生きるための教室「学 ぶ楽しさが、世代から世代へと伝えられてゆくことがすばらしいのだ」。なぜ、人は美しいものに惹かれるのか?どうして、他人を蹴落としても美しいものをも とめるのだろうか? そもそも、「美しい」とはなんだろうか? 誰もが一度は通る大きな問いに、各分野の第一人者が改めて真正面から答える。一日一教科、 一週間であなただけの答えがきっと見つかる。自分の足で立つための教科書シリーズ第二弾。35万部突破の隠れたベストセラー!!

はじめに

国語―吉本隆明 選
体育―宗 茂
理科―多田富雄
道徳―大橋良介
数学―小林昭七

  1. 数学と美
  2. 数学の美を追求した古代ギリシャ
  3. 数学のギリシャ的精神を忘れるな

英語―ウイリアム・カリー
社会―吉本隆明