From Problems to Structures: the Cousin Problems and the Emergence of the Sheaf Concept Author(s): Renaud Chorlay Source: Archive for History of Exact Sciences, Vol. 64, No. 1 (January 2010), pp. 1-73 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41342411 Accessed: 23-05-2017 00:50 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Springer is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archive for History of Exact Sciences This content downloaded from 132.248.9.8 on Tue, 23 May 2017 00:50:12 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Arch. Hist. Exact Sci. (2010) 64:1-73 DOI 10. 1007/s00407-009-0052-3 From Problems to Structures: the Cousin Problems and the Emergence of the Sheaf Concept Renaud Chorlay Received: 19 November 2008 / Published online: 30 July 2009 © Springer- Verlag 2009 Abstract Historical work on the emergence of sheaf theory has mainly concen- trated on the topological origins of sheaf cohomology in the period from 1945 to 1950 and on subsequent developments. However, a shift of emphasis both in time-scale and disciplinary context can help gain new insight into the emergence of the sheaf concept.