[CvGmt News] IMU-Net 19: September 2006
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IMU-Net 19: September 2006
A Bimonthly Email Newsletter from the International Mathematical Union
Editor: Mireille Chaleyat-Maurel, University René Descartes, Paris, France
CONTENTS
1. From the Editor
2. General Assembly
3. IMU Awards and Prizes
4. ICM 2006: A Magical Year for the Spanish Mathematical Community
5. IMU on the Web
6. A new President for TWAS
7. Kyoto Prize
8. Subscribing to IMU-Net
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1. FROM THE EDITOR
After a summer which has been so rich in events for the International
Mathematical Union, I am pleased to welcome the participants of ICM 2006
to the electronic newsletter of IMU. One of the ambitions of the
newsletter is to improve the communication between IMU and the worldwide
mathematical community, by reporting on the activities of IMU, major
international mathematical events and developments and other topics of
general mathematical interest.
It is difficult to get feedback from readers and mathematical societies,
but this year the initiative of IMU of having a booth at ICM 2006 has
permitted many direct and fruitful contacts with mathematicians. I hope
that they will inform their colleagues and the mathematical societies in
their countries about the work of IMU and convince them to subscribe to
IMU-Net!
Mireille Chaleyat-Maurel
Editor of IMU-Net
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2. GENERAL ASSEMBLY
General Assembly
The 15th General Assembly of IMU was held in Santiago de Compostela,
Spain, on August 19-20. There were 133 delegates and 20 observers,
from 64 countries.
The GA approved a budget for the coming years that will allow IMU to
keep up its work through its commissions and committees. In particular
IMU can continue to strengthen its work in support of developing
countries. The GA also approved the amended statutes, as proposed by the
EC. The main novelty is the creation of a new membership category,
associate membership, to make it easier for new, in particular
developing, countries to become members. Associate members pay no dues
and have no voting rights, but are expected to apply for ordinary
membership within 4-8 years. See
http://www.mathunion.org/Organization/Statutes2006.pdf
A new nomination procedure for the elections to the EC and the
commissions were approved. Also, it was decided to increase the number
of ordinary members of the EC from five to six. Laszlo Lovasz was
elected as the new president of IMU for the period 2007-2010. The full
results of the elections, the presentations from the commissions, and
the Resolutions passed by the GA can be found at
http://www.mathunion.org/Organization/GA.html
The next General Assembly will be held in Bangalore, India, on
August 16-17, 2010, and ICM 2010 will be held in Hyderabad, India, in
the period August 19-27, 2010.
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3. IMU AWARDS AND PRIZES
The winners of the Fields Medals awarded in Madrid, during the opening
ceremony of the International Congress of Mathematicians ICM 2006, are:
Andrei Okounkov
Grigori Perelman*
Terence Tao
Wendelin Werner
*Grigori Perelman declined to accept the Fields Medal.
The Nevanlinna Prize was awarded to Jon Kleinberg.
The new Gauss Prize was awarded to Kiyoshi Itô.
http://www.mathunion.org/General/Prizes/
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4. ICM 2006
2006: A MAGICAL YEAR FOR THE SPANISH MATHEMATICAL COMMUNITY
2006 will go down in the history of Spanish mathematics as the year in
which our dreams became a reality. We are a community with a short
history, but one eager to form part of the international community, and
the ICM 2006 has provided us with the possibility of fulfilling that
desire.
On a domestic level, the ICM 2006 in Madrid has been a collective effort,
co-ordinated by the Spanish mathematical societies through the committee
(http://www.ce-mat.org/) representing them at the IMU. It has fulfilled
its aim of contributing to the internal vertebration of our mathematical
community.
Furthermore, this ICM, and the General Assembly in Santiago de Compostela
have helped to increase our involvement in the tasks of the IMU, as well
as making the IMU better known to Spanish mathematicians. In addition,
it has been an experience that young Spanish mathematicians will never
forget.
One of our greatest concerns was to meet the expectations that the IMU had
placed in us by entrusting us with the organization of this outstanding
event. We are proud not to have let them down and we are grateful to the
IMU for having provided us with this opportunity.
This ICM 2006 will undoubtedly be remembered for the extraordinary
attention it has received from the media. Some external factors
contributed to this success, among them the presence of His Majesty the
King of Spain and the expectation aroused by the award of the Fields
Medals. However, we must not forget that the Press Office spent a year
preparing for the congress and that an important part of the budget was
devoted to this end. The results are there for all to see, and have
opened up ways of transmitting mathematics to the public at large
through the different media. For two weeks in our country people from
different walks of life spoke about mathematics, while we mathematicians
ourselves became something near and friendly.
The organization of any ICM is a highly complex undertaking that is
beset by pitfalls. If I had to offer any advice to the organizers of
future ICMs, I would suggest they choose a good team of collaborators,
since it is impossible to carry out such an undertaking without this
support. I would also advise them to approach the task with boldness
and optimism. Four long (or short?) years of intense dedication awaits
them, but I can assure them that the results are worthwhile.
The ICM 2006 has come to an end, and on behalf of the Organizing
Committee I would like to thank all those who have helped to make it a
reality: the participants, the members of the IMU, the sponsors, and
the media representatives. Our greatest satisfaction consists in having
upheld the founding spirit of the congress by helping to bring
mathematicians from all fields together to discuss their work.
The doors of our country remain open to all our new mathematical friends.
Hasta pronto!
Manuel de León
President of the Organizing Committee of ICM 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. IMU ON THE WEB
15th General Assembly of the IMU
Members of the CEIC: John Ewing, Martin Groetschel, Peter Michor and Alf
van der Poorten, provided a detailed report to the GA of the IMU at
Santiago de Compostela, emphasising both the failures and successes of
the first eight years of the activities of the Committee; click
http://www.ceic.math.ca/Publications/Reports/GA06
(and set the Reader to 'Full Screen').
Although the Committee is charged by the Executive Committee to advise
on all matters of Information and Communication, an overriding motive
behind the formation of the CEIC at Dresden, 1998 was, and remains, the
ever increasing cost of academic journals. At the GA, I had to remind
delegates that useful statements on that matter may be found at
http://www.ceic.math.ca/News/IMUonWeb.shtml#CEIC1
and the link there to
http://www.ceic.math.ca/Publications/Recommendations/Journalprices
The GA formally endorsed the CEIC statement "Digital Mathematical
Library: a vision for the Future" and adopted the CEIC recommendation
"Some Best Practices for Retrodigitisation", declaring it did so
"with the ultimate goal of creating an enduring network of digital
mathematical literature"; see the links at http://www.ceic.math.ca/
What is MathML. Why should we care?
No doubt it's some mathematicalization of the "ht" in html; that seems
worth caring about. An information article "The present and future of
MathML", written by CEIC member David Morrison, is currently in
preparation and will soon be available on the CEIC pages.
Alf van der Poorten (alfATmaths.usyd.edu.au), member of the CEIC.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. A NEW PRESIDENT FOR TWAS
Jacob Palis has been elected President of the Third World Academy of
Sciences.
See http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~twas/publ/2006-09-04_Palis.html
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7. KYOTO PRIZE
The Kyoto Prize for the Basic Sciences Category was awarded to
Dr. Hirotugu Akaike (Japan) for major contribution to statistical science
and modeling with the development of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC).
For more information, see:
http://www.inamori-f.or.jp/laureates/k22_b_hirotugu/prs_e.html
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