Life and work of Egbert Brieskorn (1936--2013) (Q335014)

This is a biographical article on the noted German mathematician and algebraic geometer and topologist Egbert Brieskorn (1936--2013). It is written by one of his students (Greuel) and by one of his main collaborators (Purkert) in the edition of the works of Felix Hausdorff (1868--1942). The personal and mathematical parts are written by Greuel. The mathematical part is apparently a considerable extension of an English version in [\textit{V. I. Arnold} (ed.) et al., Singularities. The Brieskorn anniversary volume. Proceedings of the conference dedicated to Egbert Brieskorn on his 60th birthday, Oberwolfach, Germany, July 1996. Basel: Birkhäuser (1998; Zbl 0890.00033)]. Greuel discusses in detail Brieskorn's works which are mostly connected to the study of singularities of complex hypersurfaces. Brieskorn's close connection to his teacher Friedrich Hirzebruch as well as his collaboration with mathematical luminaries such as J. Milnor and J. Nash is described vividly and in technical detail. On the personal, biographical side Greuel stresses Brieskorn's political activism, in particular against the Vietnam War and within the environmental movement. Also, Brieskorn's engagement for Hausdorff, the Jewish victim of the Nazis, is partly due to his political views. The coauthor Purkert describes the exemplary and almost completed edition (Springer) of Felix Hausdorff's many-faceted work, which included philosophical and literary contributions. After Brieskorn's death in 2013, Purkert has taken the task to complete Brieskorn's biography of Hausdorff of which he had written 530 pages. Purkert will also use the about 100 folders of material which Brieskorn has filled with material on Hausdorff.