The basic problem of deformation theory in algebraic geometry involves watching a small deformation of one member of a family of objects, such as varieties, or subschemes in a fixed space, or vector bundles on a fixed scheme. In this book, Robin Hartshorne studies first what happens over small infinitesimal deformations, and then gradually builds up to more global situations, using methods pioneered by Kodaira and Spencer in the complex analytic case, and adapted and expanded in algebraic geometry by Grothendieck.
