Mathematicians do not work in isolation. They stand in a long and time honored tradition. They write papers and (sometimes) books, they read the publications of fellow workers in the ?eld, and they meet other mathematicians at conferences all over the world. In this way, in contact with colleagues far away and nearby, from the past (via their writings) and from the present, scienti?c results are obtained whicharerecognizedasvalid.Andthat–remarkablyenough–regardlessofethnic background, political inclination or religion. In this process, some distinguished individuals play a special and striking role. They assume a position of leadership. They guide the people working with them through uncharted territory, thereby making a lasting imprint on the ?eld. So- thing which can only be accomplished through a combination of rare talents: - usually broad knowledge, unfailing intuition and a certain kind of charisma that binds people together. AllofthisispresentinIsraelGohberg,themantowhomthisbookisdedicated,on theoccasionof his 80thbirthday.This comes to the foregroundunmistakably from the contributions from those who worked with him or whose life was a?ected by him. Gohberg’sexceptionalqualitiesarealsoapparentfromthe articleswritten by himself, sometimes jointly with others, that are reproduced in this book. Among these are stories of his life, some dealing with mathematical aspects, others of a more general nature. Also included are reminiscences paying tribute to a close colleaguewho isnotamongusanymore,speechesorreviewshighlightingthework and personality of a friend or esteemed colleague, and responses to the laudatio’s connected with the several honorary degrees that were bestowed upon him.

This is the first volume of a collection of original and review articles on recent advances and new directions in a multifaceted and interconnected area of mathematics and its applications. It encompasses many topics in theoretical developments in operator theory and its diverse applications in applied mathematics, physics, engineering, and other disciplines. The purpose is to bring in one volume many important original results of cutting edge research as well as authoritative review of recent achievements, challenges, and future directions in the area of operator theory and its applications.

This book is dedicated to the memory of Israel Gohberg (1928–2009) – one of the great mathematicians of our time – who inspired innumerable fellow mathematicians and directed many students. The volume reflects the wide spectrum of Gohberg’s mathematical interests. It consists of more than 25 invited and peer-reviewed original research papers written by his former students, co-authors and friends. Included are contributions to single and multivariable operator theory, commutative and non-commutative Banach algebra theory, the theory of matrix polynomials and analytic vector-valued functions, several variable complex function theory, and the theory of structured matrices and operators. Also treated are canonical differential systems, interpolation, completion and extension problems, numerical linear algebra and mathematical systems theory.

This book contains a collection of research articles and surveys on recent developments on operator theory as well as its applications covered in the IWOTA 2011 conference held at Sevilla University in the summer of 2011. The topics include spectral theory, differential operators, integral operators, composition operators, Toeplitz operators, and more. The book also presents a large number of techniques in operator theory.

A collection of 25 papers dedicated to Israel Gohberg, an outstanding leader in operator theory. Also containing a review of his contributions to mathematics and a complete list of his publications. The book is of interest to a wide audience of pure and applied mathematicians.

R. S. PHILLIPS I am very gratified to have been asked to give this introductory talk for our honoured guest, Israel Gohberg. I should like to begin by spending a few minutes talking shop. One of the great tragedies of being a mathematician is that your papers are read so seldom. On the average ten people will read the introduction to a paper and perhaps two of these will actually study the paper. It's difficult to know how to deal with this problem. One strategy which will at least get you one more reader, is to collaborate with someone. I think Israel early on caught on to this, and I imagine that by this time most of the analysts in the world have collaborated with him. He continues relentlessly in this pursuit; he visits his neighbour Harry Dym at the Weizmann Institute regularly, he spends several months a year in Amsterdam working with Rien Kaashoek, several weeks in Maryland with Seymour Goldberg, a couple of weeks here in Calgary with Peter Lancaster, and on the rare occasions when he is in Tel Aviv, he takes care of his many students.

R. S. PHILLIPS I am very gratified to have been asked to give this introductory talk for our honoured guest, Israel Gohberg. I should like to begin by spending a few minutes talking shop. One of the great tragedies of being a mathematician is that your papers are read so seldom. On the average ten people will read the introduction to a paper and perhaps two of these will actually study the paper. It's difficult to know how to deal with this problem. One strategy which will at least get you one more reader, is to collaborate with someone. I think Israel early on caught on to this, and I imagine that by this time most of the analysts in the world have collaborated with him. He continues relentlessly in this pursuit; he visits his neighbour Harry Dym at the Weizmann Institute regularly, he spends several months a year in Amsterdam working with Rien Kaashoek, several weeks in Maryland with Seymour Goldberg, a couple of weeks here in Calgary with Peter Lancaster, and on the rare occasions when he is in Tel Aviv, he takes care of his many students.

This volume is dedicated to Heinz Langer, a leading expert in spectral analysis and its applications, in particular to operators in spaces with an indefinite metric, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The book begins with his biography and list of publications. It contains a selection of research papers, most of which are devoted to spectral analysis of operators or operator pencils with applications to ordinary and partial differential equations. Other papers deal with time-varying systems, interpolation and factorization problems, and topics from mathematical physics. About half of the papers contain further developments in the theory of operators in spaces with an indefinite metric and treat new applications. The book is of interest to a wide audience of pure and applied mathematicians.

This volume is devoted to the life and work of the applied mathematician Professor Erhard Meister (1930-2001). He was a member of the editorial boards of this book series Operator The ory: Advances and Applications as well as of the journal Integral Equations and Operator Theory, both published by Birkhauser (now part of Springer-Verlag). Moreover he played a decisive role in the foundation of these two series by helping to establish contacts between Birkhauser and the founder and present chief editor of this book series after his emigration from Moldavia in 1974. The volume is divided into two parts. Part A contains reminiscences about the life of E. Meister including a short biography and an exposition of his professional work. Part B displays the wide range of his scientific interests through eighteen original papers contributed by authors with close scientific and personal relations to E. Meister. We hope that a great part of the numerous features of his life and work can be re-discovered from this book.

This volume is dedicated to Leonid Lerer on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. The main part presents recent results in Lerer’s research area of interest, which includes Toeplitz, Toeplitz plus Hankel, and Wiener-Hopf operators, Bezout equations, inertia type results, matrix polynomials, and related areas in operator and matrix theory. Biographical material and Lerer's list of publications complete the volume.