More than 120 years after their introduction, Lyapunov's so-called First and Second Methods remain the most widely used tools for stability analysis of nonlinear systems. Loosely speaking, the Second Method states that if one can find an appropriate Lyapunov function then the system has some stability property. A particular strength of this approach is that one need not know solutions of the system in order to make definitive statements about stability properties. The main drawback of the Second Method is the need to find a Lyapunov function, which is frequently a difficult task.

Converse Lyapunov Theorems answer the question: given a particular stability property, can one always (in principle) find an appropriate Lyapunov function? In the first installment of this two-part talk, we will survey the history of the field and describe several such Converse Lyapunov Theorems for both continuous and discrete-time systems. In the second instalment we will discuss constructive techniques for numerically computing Lyapunov functions.