edited by M Shifman (University of Minnesota, USA)

Chapter 1: From Berezin Integral to Batalin-Vilkovisky Formalism: A Mathematical Physicist's Point of View (1,208k)

Felix Berezin was an outstanding Soviet mathematician who in the 1960s and 70s was the driving force behind the emergence of the branch of mathematics now known as supermathematics. The integral over the anticommuting Grassmann variables that he introduced in the 1960s laid the foundation for the path integral formulation of quantum field theory with fermions, the heart of modern supersymmetric field theories and superstrings. The Berezin integral is named for him, as is the closely related construction of the Berezinian, which may be regarded as the superanalog of the determinant.

This book features a masterfully written memoir by Berezin's widow, Elena Karpel, who narrates a remarkable account of Berezin's life and his struggle for survival under the totalitarian Soviet regime. Supplemented with recollections by his close friends and colleagues, Berezin's accomplishments in mathematics, his novel ideas and breakthrough works, are reviewed in two articles written by Andrei Losev and Robert Minlos.

• From Berezin Integral to Batalin–Vilkovisky Formalism: A Mathematical Physicist's Point of View (A Losev)
• Felix Aleksandrovich Berezin: A Brief Scientific Biography (R Minlos)
• On a envie de parler … (N Berezin)
• The Last Journey. Remembering F A Berezin (E Karpel)
• Remembering Alik Berezin (V Maslov)
• On Berezin (M Shubin)
• My Recollections on Berezin (A Vershik)
• About Alik Berezin and Some of His Works. Ten Years Later (A Vershik)
• Reminiscences of a Close Friend (N Vvedenskaya)
• My Encounters with Felix Aleksandrovich Berezin: Snapshots of Our Life in the 1960s, '70s and Beyond (D Gitman)
• About Alik Berezin and His Time (V Palamodov)
• With and Without Felix Berezin (D Leites)