Control / Feedback Theory
Edit: In European Journal of Control (2007) appeared this 11 page article "In Control, Almost from the Beginning Until the Day After Tomorrow by Jan C. Willems" that gives you a very good perspective of the history of the field and its present situation:
"We have recently seen a strong growth in the number of applications. Especially model predictive control appears to be a leading circle of ideas here. For my own taste, it has perhaps too little system theory and too much brute force computation in it, but MPC is an area where essentially all aspects of the field, from modeling to optimal control, and from observers to identification and adaptation, are in synergy with computer control and numerical mathematics."
My opinion is somewhat outdated. Having worked in Control in electrical power plants and process industries, but not in any Academy, I could indicate you the best German Book (by Otto Follinger, Regellungstechnik) on the subject published 30 years ago, but that is perhaps not what you need.
I suggest these:
Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers, Åström, Karl Johan and Murray, Richard M., Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2008
Mathematical Control Theory: Deterministic Finite Dimensional Systems, Eduardo D. Sontag, Second Edition, Springer, New York, 1998
Feedback Control Theory, John Doyle, Bruce Francis, Allen Tannenbaum, Macmillan Publishing Co., 1990
- "Feedback for physicists: A tutorial essay on control" (Rev Mod Phys 77 pp783-836, or free pdf downloadable here)
Classic and sufficient for beginners.
- Feedback control of dynamic systems, GF Franklin
Some classic advanced books:
Robust and optimal control, K Zhou
Applied optimal control, AE Bryson
Nonlinear systems, Hassan K. Khalil