This will be the first talk of two on the topic of hyperplane arrangements. A hyperplane arrangement is a simple object: just some hyperplanes in a vector space. Arrangements can be studied from various viewpoints: the combinatorial structure of how the hyperplanes intersect, or the topology of the complement---or of course from the viewpoint of algebraic geometry. I will give a very light introduction to this incredibly rich theory. In this first talk, I will simply mention some combinatorial and topological aspects, and some of the many famous examples. It will be mostly historical. This should be very accessible. No algebraic geometry will be required.
My tentative goal for the 2nd talk is to say a bit about resolution of singularities for hyperplane arrangements, in the algebraic geometry setting. At that point we are venturing into the "wonderful models" of de Concini-Procesi and others.