Vladimir Arnold (1937-2010) graduated from Moscow State University, Russia. While a student of Andrey Kolmogorov, Arnold showed in 1957 that any continuous function of several variables can be constructed with a finite number of two-variable functions, thereby completing the solution of Hilbert's thirteenth problem. Arnold worked at Moscow State University, the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow, Russia, and at Paris Dauphine University, France. His groundbreaking contributions enriched such areas as the Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser theory, dynamical systems, singularity theory, algebraic geometry, symplectic geometry and topology, differential equations, classical mechanics, topological Galois theory, and hydrodynamics. Arnold was also well known as a popularizer of mathematics, the author of many textbooks (such as the famous Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics), and outspoken critic of the Bourbaki style in mathematics.

The first and the only monograph to treat topological, group-theoretic, and geometric problems of ideal hydrodynamics and magneto-hydrodynamics from a unified point of view. It has become a classical book and the standard reference by now: Google Scholar includes nearly 1800 citations of this book

It includes over 70 figures, which helps the reader to "visualise", as opposed to "compute" hydrodynamics

It includes the survey of recent developments for the last 20 years in this now-flourishing field of topological and geometric hydrodynamics. The corresponding survey bibliography includes over 250 titles

Group and Hamiltonian Structures of Fluid Dynamics.- Topology of Steady Fluid Flows.- Topological Properties of Magnetic and Vorticity Fields.- Differential Geometry of Diffeomorphism Groups.- Kinematic Fast Dynamo Problems.- Dynamical Systems with Hydrodynamical Background.