Higher Homotopy Structures in Topology and Mathematical Physics Proceedings of an International Conference June 13-15, 1996 at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, to Honor the Sixtieth Birthday of Jim Stasheff

Since the work of Stasheff and Sugawara in the 1960s on recognition of loop space structures on $H$-spaces, the notion of higher homotopies has grown to be a fundamental organizing principle in homotopy theory, differential graded homological algebra and even mathematical physics. This book presents the proceedings from a conference held on the occasion of Stasheff's 60th birthday at Vassar in June 1996. It offers a collection of very high quality papers and includes some fundamental essays on topics that open new areas. It's features include: accessible to a broad audience interested in mathematics and physics; offers a comprehensive overview of Stasheff's work; and, contains papers on very current research topics, including operads, combinatorial polyhedra and moduli spaces.