The mathematical term perverse sheaves refers to a certain abelian category associated to a topological space X, which may be a real or complex manifold, or a more general topologically stratified space, usually singular. This concept was introduced in the thesis of Zoghman Mebkhout, gaining more popularity after the (independent) work of Joseph Bernstein, Alexander Beilinson, and Pierre Deligne (1982) as a formalisation of the Riemann-Hilbert correspondence, which related the topology of singular spaces (intersection homology of Mark Goresky and Robert MacPherson) and the algebraic theory of differential equations (microlocal calculus and holonomic D-modules of Joseph Bernstein, Masaki Kashiwara and Takahiro Kawai). It was clear from the outset that perverse sheaves are fundamental mathematical objects at the crossroads of algebraic geometry, topology, analysis and differential equations. They also play an important role in number theory, algebra, and representation theory. The properties characterizing perverse sheaves already appeared in the 75’s paper of Kashiwara on the constructibility of solutions of holonomic D-modules.
Introduction: https://www.ams.org/notices/201005/rtx100500632p.pdf
Required Reading: https://mathoverflow.net/questions/29970/what-is-the-etymology-of-the-term-perverse-sheaf/44149#44149
Course Texbook(s): https://www.google.com/books/edition/Calabi_Yau_Manifolds/bTRqDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
