Topics in Differential Geometry

This volume presents a set of never-before-published notes from lectures given by S.-S. Chern in 1951 on the topic of Minimal Submanifolds in a Riemannian Manifold. Also presented are five of Cherns expository papers which complement the lecture notes and provide an overview of the scope and power of differential geometry: From Triangles to Manifolds, Curves and Surfaces in Euclidean Space, Characteristic Classes and Characteristic Forms, Geometry and Physics, and The Geometry of G-Structures.