This invaluable book is based on the notes of a graduate course on differential geometry which the author gave at the Nankai Institute of Mathematics. It consists of two parts: the first part contains an introduction to the geometric theory of characteristic classes due to Shiing-shen Chern and André Weil, as well as a proof of the Gauss-Bonnet-Chern theorem based on the Mathai-Quillen construction of Thom forms; the second part presents analytic proofs of the Poincaré-Hopf index formula, as well as the Morse inequalities based on deformations introduced by Edward Witten.

Riemann-Finsler geometry is a subject that concerns manifolds with Finsler metrics, including Riemannian metrics. It has applications in many fields of the natural sciences. Curvature is the central concept in Riemann-Finsler geometry. This invaluable textbook presents detailed discussions on important curvatures such the Cartan torsion, the S-curvature, the Landsberg curvature and the Riemann curvature. It also deals with Finsler metrics with special curvature or geodesic properties, such as projectively flat Finsler metrics, Berwald metrics, Finsler metrics of scalar curvature or isotropic...

Shiing-Shen Chern (1911-2004) was one of the leading differential geometers of the twentieth century. In 1946, he founded the Mathematical Institute of Academia Sinica in Shanghai, which was later moved to Nanking. In 1981, he founded the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) at Berkeley and acted as the director until 1984. In 1985, he founded the Nankai Institute of Mathematics in Tianjin. He was awarded the National Medal of Science in 1975; the Wolf Prize in mathematics in 1984; and the Shaw Prize in mathematical sciences in 2004.Chern's works span all the classic fields of...