Edited by M Shifman, World Scientific. Hardback ISBN 978-981-270-532-7, £41 ($75). Paperback ISBN 9789812705334, £21 ($39).
Felix Berezin was an outstanding Soviet mathematician who was the driving force behind the emergence in the 1960s and 1970s of the branch of mathematics, now known as supermathematics. The integral over the anti-commuting 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. This book features a masterfully written memoir by Berezin’s widow, Elena Karpel, who narrates a remarkable account of his life and struggle for survival under the totalitarian Soviet regime. Supplemented with recollections by 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.
