Topology of hypersurface singularities

Abstract

K\"ahler's paper "\"Uber die Verzweigung einer algebraischen Funktion zweier Ver\"anderlichen in der Umgebung einer singul\"aren Stelle" offered a more perceptual view of the link of a complex plane curve singularity than that provided shortly before by Brauner. K\"ahler's innovation of using a "square sphere" became standard in the toolkit of later researchers on singularities. We describe his contribution and survey developments since then, including a brief discussion of the topology of isolated hypersurface singularities in higher dimension.