Serge Lang (1927-2005) was one of the top mathematicians of our time. He was born in Paris in 1927, and moved with his family to California, where he graduated from Beverly Hills High School in 1943. He subsequently graduated from California Institute of Technology  in 1946, and received a doctorate from Princeton University in 1951 before holding faculty positions at the University of Chicago and Columbia University (1955-1971). At the time of his death he was professor emeritus of Mathematics at Yale University.

An excellent writer, Lang has made innumerable and invaluable contributions in diverse fields of mathematics. He was perhaps best known for his work in number theory and for his mathematics textbooks, including the influential Algebra. He was also a member of the Bourbaki group.

He was honored with the Cole Prize by the American Mathematical Society as well as with the Prix Carrière by the French Academy of Sciences. These five volumes collect the majority of his research papers, which range over a variety of topics.