ABSTRACT
Henri Poincare´ (1854-1912), the extraordinary French mathematician, was considered “the last universalist,” that is, a contributor to the progress of all important areas of mathematics. We owe to him the notion of fundamental groups and the creation of homology theory, which are fundamental concepts of topology. The above quotation, from his scientific autobiography (“Notice sur les travaux scientifiques de Henri Poincare´”), was published for the first time nine years after his death, in a special issue of the journal “Acta Mathematica,” dedicated to him.
