IMU Bulletin no. 45, December,1999

    Meeting of the Executive Commitee of IMU



      The Executive Committee of IMU met May 10-11, 1999, at the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Among the items discussed by the Executive Committee were the following:

      1. The year 2000 had been proclaimed the UNESCO/ICSU World Mathematical Year. In that connection, it was decided that all IMU-funded conferences for the year would differ from the norm in focus and scope. Specifically, each would be required to be multinational and to cover several subject areas. The goal would be to support one or two such broadly conceived conferences on each continent during the year 2000. (IMU-supported conferences for the year 2000 are listed on page 10.)


      2. It was noted that World Mathematical Year 2000 is being publicized and observed through exhibitions, performances, a specially designed postage stamp, posters, and a newsletter. Further information about WMY2000 can be found at http://wmy2000.math.jussieu.fr. Oversight and coordination of the year's special activities are being provided by Mireille Chaleyat-Maurel of Université Pierre et Marie Curie.


      3. Among the main activities of IMU to celebrate the year 2000, a book was published to provide the views of outstanding mathematicians on the state of mathematics at the end of the millenium. The book, edited by V. Arnold, M. Atiyah, P. Lax, and B. Mazur, is called Mathematics: Frontiers and Perspectives. The American Mathematical Society was selected to publish the volume, which is now available for purchase from AMS.


      4. The members of the Program Committee for ICM 2002 were selected. The Chairman is Professor Yuri Manin. Suggestions concerning plenary speakers, invited presentations, or the program structure may be communicated to:


        5. Professor Yuri Manin
        Max Planck Institute für Math.
        Vivatsgasse 7, D-53111
        P.O. Box 7280
        Bonn D-53072, Germany
        manin@mpim-bonn.mpg.de

      5. Two mathematical societies were recommended for affiliate status within IMU and were subsequently approved by postal ballot. According to a 1998 amendment to the IMU Statutes, affiliate status was created "for the purpose of facilitating jointly sponsored activities pursuing the objectives of the IMU." The new affiliates are the European Mathematical Society and the Unión Matemática de América Latina y el Caribe (U.M.A.L.C.A.).


      6. Following a discussion regarding the clarification of election procedures, a proposed new version for Election of the Executive Committee of IMU was disseminated via circular and subsequently approved (see page 5).


      7. There was a decision to bring to a vote at the General Assembly in 2002 a proposal to increase by one the number of members-at-large on the Executive Committee. Should the vote be affirmative, the first larger Executive Committee would be elected in 2006.


      8. The new Committee on Electronic Information and Communications (CEIC) was discussed. The committee's Terms of Reference appear on page 7.

      The meeting was followed by a two-day "International Conference on Frontiers of Mathematics" featuring talks by some of the Executive Committee members, as follows:

      1. Jean-Michel Bismut (France)
        "Index Theorem and the Verlinde Formulas"


      2. Björn Engquist (Sweden)
        "Computational Geometrical Optics"


      3. Phillip Griffiths (USA)
        "K2 (C) and Hodge Theory"


      4. Martin Grötschel (Germany)
        "The Polyhedral Approach to Combinatorial Optimization"


      5. Shigefumi Mori (Japan)
        "The Quotient Space as an Algebraic Space"


      6. Madabusi S. Raghunathan (India)
        "Loop-Spaces of Affine Algebraic Homogeneous Spaces"