Bourbaki, Nicolas

Pseudonym adopted by a group of mathematicians, most of them French, who, collectively and anonymously, published a definitive survey of mathematics 1939–67. The group, which at any one time contained about 20 members, was centred at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. The group's founder was André Weil.

The group's work appeared in 33 instalments, subjected to continual revision and updating. The work as a whole is called Elements of Mathematics. It can be understood only by persons possessing expert knowledge of higher mathematics and follows a pattern markedly different from traditional introductions to mathematics. The order of topics dealt with is set theory, abstract algebra, general topology, functions of a real variable (including ordinary calculus), topological vector spaces, and general theory of integration.

Many of the terms introduced by Bourbaki have passed into the language of mathematical research.