A geometric proof of the existence of Whitney stratifications
  A stratification of a singular set, e.g. an algebraic or analytic variety, is, roughly, a partition of it into manifolds so that these manifolds fit together "regularly". A classical theorem of Whitney says that any complex analytic set has a stratification. This result was extended by Lojasiewicz to real (semi)analytic sets. In this paper we present a short geometric proof of existence of stratifications based on Thom's transversality theorem and Milnor's curve selection lemma and not relying on difficult results of Lojasiewicz. 
Vadim Kaloshin (American Institute of Mathematics)