=0A= Dear Harry, Marta, Peter and All,=0A= =0A= On my shelves is a slightly-under-A4-sized=3D20=0A= booklet of lectures on=0A= =0A= Algebraic Functions=0A= =0A= by Saunders Mac Lane (with the space, all three times typed!)=3D20=0A= delivered at Harvard in Spring 1939. The notes were taken=0A= by Edwin N. Nilson. The place and date on the booklet is=3D20=0A= Cambridge, Massachusetts 1947.=0A= The notes culminate in=3D20=0A= Section 25. Applications of Riemann-Roch theorem.=0A= At the time Weil had given ``an ingenious new proof''.=3D20=0A= =0A= Saunders' ``hobbies'' were many!=0A= =0A= I knew of Mac Lane's notes on mechanics and wrote to=0A= him asking for them but did not get a copy. So thank you=0A= Harry for making them available.=0A= =0A= Speaking of mechanics, I might mention that I believe=3D20=0A= Chapter 13 Classical Mechanics (last chapter)=0A= of ``Advanced Calculus'' by Loomis and Sternberg=0A= is based in large part on the PhD thesis of=0A= our colleague John W. Gray. =3D20=0A= =0A= Interesting you should mention Dr Pars, Peter.=0A= He was at the University of Sydney when I was in=0A= my final undergrad years. He taught us a course on=0A= the calculus of variations. It was very hands on with many=0A= nice examples: quite a good background for learning a=0A= more grown up approach later. So I met Pars before=0A= I met Saunders.=0A= =0A= Ross=0A= =0A=
On 28 Oct 2017, at 10:52 AM, ptj@maths.cam.ac.uk wrote:=0A= =3D20=0A= Yes, I am sure Saunders saw his excursions into geometrical mechanics=0A= as a `hobby', and wasn't seeking to make original contributions (other=0A= than, perhaps, a new way of looking at established results). I remember,= =0A= when I was in Chicago in 1975--76, he asked me whether I knew L.A. (Alan)= =0A= Pars, a Cambridge mathematician whose book on dynamics was one of his=0A= favoured sources. (At the time I didn't know him -- he had retired long= =0A= before I first went to Cambridge -- but I did meet him subsequently.=0A= He was then in his nineties, and was delighted to learn that Saunders=0A= was a fan of his work.)=0A= =3D20=0A= Regarding the spelling of Saunders's surname: my recollection is that,=0A= once he had decided to adopt the space in `Mac Lane', he was quite=0A= insistent that everyone should use it. Since that happened well before=0A= 1968, it's surprising that he allowed `MacLane' to stand on the title=0A= page of those 1968 notes.=0A= =0A= =0A=
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