Subject: cohomology of BO(n) From: "Dr A. J. Baker" Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2005 17:24:29 -0000 (GMT) When I saw the emails about this I thought I recalled seeing something in Milnor & Stasheff: Characteristic Classes. I finally checked yesterday and it is problem 15-C. Essentially it uses the Bockstein spectral sequence. Andy >> Subject: cohomology of BO(n) >> From: Larry Smith >> Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2005 16:20:37 +0100 >> >> I think I saw a question some days ago concerning the integral >> cohomology of BO(n). I had a friend when I was a grad student >> who not only computed that, he did much better, he computed the >> cohomology with twisted gaussian integer coefficients of these >> spaces. This computation contains both the ordinary and twisted >> integer answers. Unfortunately the anti Viet-Nam war movement >> swallowed him up and his dissertation was never published. I >> suspect it is available from University Microfilms though. >> Here is the relevent info: >> Title: Homology with Local Coefficients and Characteristic Classes >> Author: Robert Greenblatt >> PHD Dissertation Yale University 1963 >> His dissertation was never published as such, just a short note >> that was extracted from it was published in the Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc >> sometime in the 1960s about the twisted Bockstein. >> I have a copy of the dissertation but am unsure what I would be >> allowed ethically speaking to do with it. >> >> As I wrote, it ought to be available from University Microfilms, >> so perhaps you could post the relevent info and leave it at that. >> >> Bob was one of Bill Massey's students. I lost contact with him during >> the years. He resurfaced for a short time while I was at >> Indiana and Peter Hilton and I tried to help him out, but he >> disappeared on us at a crucial moment and I have no idea what >> has become of him. >> >> Cheers, >> >> Larry Smith