Von Neumann worked on lattice theory between 1937 and 1939. Von Neumann provided an abstract exploration of dimension in completed complemented modular topological lattices: "Dimension is determined, up to a positive linear transformation, by the following two properties. It is conserved by perspective mappings ("perspectivities") and ordered by inclusion. The deepest part of the proof concerns the equivalence of perspectivity with "projectivity by decomposition"—of which a corollary is the transitivity of perspectivity." Garrett Birkhoff writes: "John von Neumann's brilliant mind blazed over lattice theory like a meteor".
What properties determine dimension in lattice theory?
conserved by perspective mappings ("perspectivities") and ordered by inclusion