The theory of characteristic classes provides a meeting ground for the various disciplines of differential topology, differential and algebraic geometry, cohomo
Characteristic classes are central to the modern study of the topology and geometry of manifolds. They were first introduced in topology, where, for instance, t
This text presents a graduate-level introduction to differential geometry for mathematics and physics students. The exposition follows the historical developmen
The notion of a fibre bundle first arose out of questions posed in the 1930s on the topology and geometry of manifolds. By the year 1950 the defini tion of fibr