English

PC4 at Age 40

Geometric Topology 2021-01-27 v1 History and Overview

Abstract

This article is not a proof of the Poincar\'{e} conjecture but a discussion of the proof, its context, and some of the people who played a prominent role. It is a personal, anecdotal account. There may be omission or transpositions as these recollections are 40 years old and not supported by contemporaneous notes, but memories feel surprisingly fresh. I have not looked up old papers to check details of statements; this article is merely a download from my current mental state.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2101.10519,
  title  = {PC4 at Age 40},
  author = {Michael Freedman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.10519},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T22:31:39.548Z