Shape Theory

Abstract

Shape theory was founded by K.~Borsuk 50 years ago. In essence, this is spectral homotopy theory; it occupies an important place in geometric topology. The article presents the basic concepts and the most important, in our opinion, results of shape theory. Unfortunately, many other interesting problems and results related to this theory could not be covered because of space limitations. The article contains an extensive bibliography for those who wants to gain a more detailed and systematic insight into the issues considered in the survey.