Report for 1995 of the
    International Mathematical Union

    Professor Jacob Palis
    Secretary

    Introduction

    The International Mathematical Union was founded in its present form in 1951. The purpose of the Union is to promote international cooperation in mathematics, to support and assist the International Congress of Mathematicians and other international meetings and to encourage and support other international mathematical activities considered likely to contribute to the development of mathematical science in any of its aspects , pure, applied, or education. IMU has two commissions, the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction and the Commission on Development and Exchange. The International Commission on the History of Mathematics is a joint commission with the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science.


    Membership

    The members of IMU are countries. At the moment IMU has 60 members

    In 1995 information concerning IMU can be found IMU-pages on the World Wide Web. The pages are located through URL:

    http://elib.zib.de/IMU/
    Gopher access is possible through the following address:
    gopher://elib.zib.de/11imu
    The IMU server can be accessed via telnet as follows:
    telnet elib.zib.de
    Login: imu
    no password required

    Scientific Meetings

    Conferences supported by IMU - 1 9 9 5
    • WORKSHOP ON DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS, held in Montevideo, Uruguay, March 1995. IMU representative - J.Palis

    • 16th ROLF NEVANLINNA COLLOQUIUM IN JOENSUU, Finland, August 1-5, 1995 IMU representative: Olli Lehto

    • MODELLING AND OPTIMIZATION OF DISTRIBUTED PARAMETER SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS TO ENGINEERING, held in Warsaw, July 17-21, 1995 IMU Representative: B.Engquist

    • FOURTH AMU PAN-AFRICAN CONGRESS OF MATHEMATICIANS, IFRAM, held in Marocco, September 18-26, 1995 IMU Representative: J.L.Lions

    • VI LATIN AMERICAN CONGRESS ON PROBABILITY AND MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS (CLAPEM) held in the Univ. Catolica de Valparaiso, Chile, November 20-24, 1995 IMU Representative: K. Parthasarathy

    • 3rd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON APPROXIMATION AND OPTIMIZATION, held in the Caribbean, Puebla, Mexico, October 8-14. 1995 IMU Representative: J.Palis

    • 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON OPERATIONS RESEARCH held in Havana, Cuba, October 3-5, 1995 IMU Representative: J. Palis
    The following conference was supported by IMU in 1995, but without financial help:
    • MATHEMATICS OF NUMERICAL ANALYSIS - REAL NUMBER ALGORITHMS, four-week conference held in the summer of 1995, in Park City, Utah IMU Representative: J.L.Lions


    EDUCATION

    International Commission on Mathematical Instruction - ICMI
    Report prepared by Mogens Niss, Secretary

    1. Organisation

    On the 1st January 1995, the new Executive Committee of ICMI, elected at the IMU General Assembly in Switzerland (in August 1994), took office. In 1995 the EC met in Madrid (Spain), 26-27 February. A sub-set of the EC met informally at the ICMI Study Conference on geometry (see below) held in Catania, Sicily (Italy) 28 September - 2 October 1996. Beside in meetings, the work in the EC is conducted by correspondence and electronic communication under the direction of the President and the Secretary.

    In 1995 no new member state joined ICMI, but applications from a number of countries to do so were received by the EC. Decisions concerning these applications will be made in 1996.

    ICMI continues to have four affiliated study groups, HPM (The International Study Group for the Relations Between the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics), IOWME (The International Organisation of Women and Mathematics Education), and PME (The International Group for the Psychology of Learning Mathematics), and WFNMC (The World Federation of National Mathematical Competitions).

    2. ICMEs

    The planning of ICME-8, to be held in Sevilla (Spain), 14-21 July 1996, is in full progress. The Second Announcement with registration forms etc. was disseminated internationally, on paper and in electronic form, during the last months of 1995.

    In October 1995, the EC decided unanimously, and with great pleasure and gratitude, to accept the bid submitted by Japan to host ICME-9 in the year 2000. The Congress will be held in Chiba, near Tokyo. Informal contacts between the Japanese Invitation Committee and ICMI to initiate the organisation and planning of ICME-9 were established at the end of 1996.

    3. ICMI Studies

    The mounting and conducting of so-called ICMI studies on crucial themes and issues in mathematics education was continued in 1995.

    The proceedings of the ICMI study conference on Gender and Mathematics Education, held in Höör (Sweden), 7-12 October 1993, were published in 1995 by Lund University Press. The proceedings are edited by Barbro Grevholm and Gila Hanna. The final outcome of the ICMI Study, the book Towards Gender Equity in Mathematics Education - An ICMI Study, edited by Gila Hanna, is to appear in the ICMI Study Series, published by Kluwer Academic publishers, early in 1996.

    The ICMI Study volume What is Research in Mathematics Education, and What Are Its Results? (the study conference for which was held in College Park, Maryland, USA, in May 1994), edited by Jeremy Kilpatrick and Anna Sierpinska, will be published in the ICMI Study Series (by Kluwer Academic Publishers). It is expected to appear in the course of 1996.

    The study conference for the ICMI Study Perspectives on the teaching of geometry for the 21st century was held at Università di Catania, Sicily (Italy) 28 September - 2 October 1995. The International Programme Committee, appointed in 1994, was chaired by Vinicio Villani, Pisa (Italy). The Local Organising Committee was chaired by Carmelo Mammana, Catania. The Discussion Document for this study was published officially in l'Enseignement mathématique 40, fasc. 3-4, juillet-décembre 1994, pp 345-357, and in the ICMI Bulletin, No. 37, December 1994, pp 6-16. About 75 participants from more than 30 countries attended the conference. ICMI is grateful to the UNESCO/ROSTE office in Venezia (Italy) which sponsored the conference with a grant of US$ 3.000.

    Reports on each of these studies will be given at ICME-8 in Sevilla.

    The EC has decided to devote the next study in the series to The position and rôle of the history of mathematics in the teaching and learning of mathematics. The study conference will be held in France in 1997. An International Programme Committee for the study will be appointed by the EC in the beginning of 1996.

    Ideas concerning future studies include, among others, mathematics education at the tertiary level, stochastics and probability, mathematics for and from the work-place, teacher education for the 21st century, visualisation in mathematics education, the development of mathematics education within a region during the past 40-50 years, studies of the mathematics classroom.

    4. Regional Conferences

    The EC has decided to adopt the following (minimum) requirements for granting the status of ICMI Regional Meeting to a conference under planning:
    • There has to be evidence of a broad national support of the meeting;
    • There has to be evidence of a fair degree of regional support;
    • The conference should have a theme which is of specific significance to the region at issue;
    • An International Programme Committee has to be appointed. It should include at least one member representing the ICMI EC (not necessarily an EC member) who is prepared to produce a brief report of the organisation and proceedings of the conference;
    • A conference report in English should be published;
    • If ICMI is asked to provide financial support, a budget and a subsequent brief account, should be made available to the ICMI EC. Normally, only regional conferences to be held in non-affluent countries will be eligible to financial support from ICMI.
    In 1995, the Proceedings of the ICMI-China Regional Conference, Shanghai, 1994, was published by Shanghai Educational Publishing House.

    In 1995, the conference Regional Collaboration in Mathematics Education: An ICMI Regional Conference was held at Monash University, Melbourne (Australia), 19-23 April 1995. As this conference took place in a developed country, ICMI's sponsorship did not involve financial support.

    The ICMI EC has agreed to support The Seventh South East Asian Conference on Mathematics Education (SEACME 7), to be held at Hanoi University of Technology, Hanoi (Vietnam), 3-7 June 1996, with a grant of US$ 2.000.

    5. Other initiatives

    Further to a proposal made by Nicolas Balacheff (Grenoble, France) at the ICMI Study Conference in College Park, Maryland (USA), May 1994, the EC has decided to appoint an Ad Hoc Committee on the Identity of the Professional Community of Mathematics Education Researchers. It is hoped that the Committee, which is chaired by Nicolas Balacheff and Gila Hanna (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), will be able to give a preliminary report on its work at ICME-8 in Sevilla (Spain), July 1996.

    6. The Solidarity Programme

    In 1992 ICMI established a Solidarity Programme to help the development of mathematics education in countries in which there is a need for it that justifies international assistance. The first stage in this programme was the mounting of a Solidarity Fund based on private contributions by individuals, associations, etc. The Fund is to be activated to support concrete initiatives and activities that may foster solidarity in mathematics education between well-defined quarters in developed and less developed countries.

    In 1995 the Fund received a generous donation of Australian Dollars 2.000 from the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australiasia (MERGA).

    7. ICMI Bulletins

    In 1995 ICMI Bulletin Nos. 38 (June) and 39 (December) were published under the editorship of the Secretary of ICMI. In 1995, an ISSN-number (1024-3127: Bulletin - ICMI) was attached to the Bulletin. As from the end of 1995, the ICMI Bulletin is available in the following electronic forms: In ASCII-format by direct request to the editor. On the World Wide Web, where it can be found under the following coordinates on the IMU-pages, through URL:
    http://elib.zib.de/IMU/ICMI/bulletin/[no.]

    8. ICMI on WWW


    In 1995 information concerning ICMI can be found on the ICMI-pages of the IMU-pages on the World Wide Web. The pages are located through URL:
    http://elib.zib.de/IMU/ICMI/


    ACTIVITIES INVOLVING DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

    Commission on Development and Exchanges - CDE

    Report prepared by Pierre Bérard, Secretary

    The Commission on Development and Exchanges has offered two programs.

    The purpose of CDE Programs is to stimulate, supporting financially mathematical research activities in developing countries.

    1. The program "Support to Individual Mathematicians"offers partial travel support to mathematicians who make an extended research visit in an advanced mathematical center which commits itself to cover the local expenses. This program applies both to mathematicians from developing countries and to mathematicians from advanced countries who visit a mathematical center in a developing country. This program includes the "IMU-UNESCO Visiting Mathematician Program" and has been made possible through special funding by ICSU, UNESCO-ROSTA and UNESCO-ROSTE.

    2. The program "Support to Conferences" offers partial support for the academic activities of conferences organized in developing countries.
    As in the past years, the CDE has received many applications an has to make a strict selection before awarding funding.

    The CDE has also continued supporting the two research teams.

    A list of beneficiaries is given below. The activities of the CDE were make possible through funding received from IMU, ICSU, Societé Mathématique de France and UNESCO

    CDE 1995 Support to Individual Mathematicians

    N A M E RESEARCH FIELDS ORIGIN RESEARCH VISITPROGRAM YEAR
    M.N.Ndumum Stochastic Anal. and Geometry Cameron 2 months, Warwick, UK ROSTA 95
    T.S. Rao Func.Analysis India 1 month, Italy ROSTE 95
    Le Hai Khoi Analysis Vietnam 1 month, Sophia Univ., Japan ROSTE
    I C S U     		95
    Njkoku Appl. Math. Nigeria 1 month. ICPT, Italy I C S U
    ROSTA     		95
    T.N. Venkataramana Group representation India 1 month Orsay, France I C S U 95
    Gonzalez de Paz Appl. Analysis Guatemala 2 months, ICTP I C S U 96
    Qiu Complex Anal. Brazil Denmark, 94 I C S U 96


    CDE 1995 Support to Conferences

    Country Title of the Meet./Conference Organizers Year Programme
    Argentina Workshop on Representation of Lie Groups,Aug 7-20,1995 J. Tirao 95 I C S U
    Marocco Colloquium in AnalysisJun 19-21, 1995 A. Bakali 95 I C S U
    ROSTA
    India Winter School Nonlinear Systems, Jan 8-26, 96 K.M. Tamizhamani 95 I C S U
    Thailand ACM95 (2nd Asian Math.Conf) S.Tangmanee 95 I C S U
    India Int. Conf. on Discrete Math 95 I M U
    Vietnam Int. Conf. on Commutative Algebra and Alg.Geometry N.V. Trung 96 I C S U


    CDE 1995 SUPPORT TO RESEARCH TEAMS

    Country Research Field Head Year Programme
    Vietnam Topology and Singularity Theory Le van Thanh 94/95 I C S U
    Benin Differential Geometry and Theoretical Physics J.P. Ezin 95 I C S U


    OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

    International Commission on the History of Mathematics - ICHM
    Report prepared by Eberhard Knobloch, 1996

    New Editors of Historia Mathematica:

    Karen Parshall, USA, and Jan P. Hogendijk, The Netherlands, have taken over the editorial responsibility of Historia Mathematica and have slightly changed the Editorial Board. The journal runs well, and has developed a healthy backlog of submitted high quality papers. We would like to take this opportunity to thank David Rowe for his deeply appreciated work and his untiring efforts at the head of the Journal during the last two years.


    Past congresses to which the ICHM contributed:

    International Workshop "History of science, history of text".

    This international workshop was organized by Karine Chemla, French member of the ICHM, on behalf of the EINSTEIN Forum and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. It took place in the so-called "Literarrisches Colloquium" in Berlin from March 30 to April 2, 1995, and brought together scholars from diverse fields, including history of mathematics, in order to conceptualize problems inherent in studying the interrelationship between scientific practices and scientific writing across cultural, geographical and chronological differences. The proceedings will be published (Akademie-Verlag, Berlin) by the organizer.

    Actualité de Leibniz: Les deux labyrinthes

    An international colloquium was organized by Dominique Berlioz and Frédéric Nef in the Centre Culturel International de Cerisy-la-Salle, France, June 15-22, 1995. Six lectures dealt with History of Mathematics, among them those of Javier Echeverria, Spanish member of the ICHM, and Eberhard Knobloch, chairman of the ICHM.

    Conflict and cooperation in building the scientific estate:

    Johann Bernoulli, other cases and a general perspective. The symposium, that took place at Groningen, July 5-6, 1995, was organized by the ICHM member Jan van Maanen. It was held to mark the tercentenary of the appointment of Johann Bernoulli as Professor of Mathematics at Groningen University.

    1695 Christiaan Huygens 1995

    This international conference was organized by A. Eyffinger under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and in cooperation with the Boerhaave Museum in Leiden and the Museum Hofwijck in Voorburg. It took place in Leiden and in Voorburg, The Netherlands, July 7-9, 1995. One of the opening addresses (by Joella Yoder) and a whole session were devoted to Huygens and mathematics. The proceedings will be published in De seventiende eeuw.

    The first European Honours Course in History of Mathematics:

    History of the 17th century mathematics, Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 1995 Henk Bos, Utrecht University, organized the course and was one of the six lecturers, among them being the chairman of the ICHM Eberhard Knobloch, Jan van Maanen, Dutch member of the ICHM, Kirsti Andersen, Vicechairman of the ICHM, and Silvia Roero, Italian member of the ICHM. Some 20 advanced students of history of mathematics participated in the Course, coming from eleven European countries.

    The history of reading the Ancients in mathematics

    Karine Chemla, France, Eberhard Knobloch, Germany, and Jeanne Peiffer organized an international conference on the above subject at the Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques (CIRM) in Luminy-Marseille, France, from October 16 to 20, 1995. It reestablished the tradition of organizing historical conferences at the CIRM. Its director agreed that a next conference of such a kind should be organized in 1997. As a consequence, it can be hoped that conferences on history of mathematics will take place alternately in Luminy and Oberwolfach, Germany. Some 40 historians of mathematics, coming from 14 countries, participated in this conference. 26 lectures discussed interesting aspects of the theme.

    4th Austrian symposium on history of mathematics

    Christa Binder, Austrian member of the ICHM, organized this symposium entitled "999 years-Austria a part of the global development of mathematics" at Neuhofen, Austria, November 5-11, 1995. 32 speakers coming from 10 countries, contributed to the conference.


    Future Congresses

    Workshop on the History of Mathematics in Oberwolfach, November 3-9, 1996.

    It will be organized by Kirsti Andersen, Aarhus, Henk J.M. Bos, Utrecht, and Menso Folkerts, Munich.The subject of the meeting is: "Significant changes in our picture of mathematics’ past - crucial results of four decades of research in the history of mathematics". It aims at analyzing the nature and significance of the results of research in recent decades. Six sub-themes have been chosen for this approach: Interfaces between mathematics and social practices, 1850-1950 Mathematics in the Islam period, Interfaces between mathematics and physics in the nineteenth century, Historical studies on ethnomathematics, Mathematics in the European Medieval Period, History of stochastics.

    ICHM and the XXth International congress of history of science Liege, July 20-26, 1997

    Organized by the IUHPS/DHS, the Congress will focus on `Science, Technology and Industry'. The Program Committee is chaired by Charles C. Gillispie (USA) and the Local Organizing Committee by Robert Halleux, University of Liége. Two symposia will be organized on behalf of the ICHM: The Heritage of A.P.Yushkevich, under the responsability of K. Chemla, S. Demidov, E. Knobloch Formation of a research area and a scientific community: applied mathematics, under the responsability of G. Israel and J.W. Dauben. These proposals have been accepted by the local organizing committee of the Liége Congress. The first circular has been distributed during the fall of 1995. The address of the Congress office reads as follows: Centre d'Histoire des Sciences et des Techniques, 15 avenue des tilleuls, B-4000 Li!ge, Belgique, tel. 32.41/66.94.79, fax 32.41/66.95.47, e-mail CHSTULG@VM1.ULG.AC.BE

    International Congress of Mathematicians, Berlin 1998

    The ICHM intends to organize a colloquium on the history of mathematics with the tentative title "Berlin and its relations to other international mathematical centers". The proposal has been sent to Philipp Griffiths, Chairman of the Program Committee, and to the Chairman of the Local Organizing Comittee in Berlin, Martin Groetschel. The ICHM is still waiting for an official approval.

    The European Honours Course in History of Mathematics

    The SOKRATES Inter-university Cooperation Program (ICP) "History of Mathematics" was established early 1994 with the aim of organizing yearly Intensive Programs for students in History of Mathematics. 34 universities are participating in the ICP. The second course on "Nineteenth-century mathematics" will take place in Palermo, Italy, September 2-20, 1996. Addresses of the Committee: Mathematical Institute, Utrecht University, c/o Henk Bos, Postbox 80010, NL 3508 TA Utrecht Netherlands, tel. 31.30.53.14.30; fax 31.30.51.83.94; e-mail bos@math.ruu.nl Department of mathematics, University of Palermo, c/o Aldo Brigaglia, Via Archirafi 34, I-90123 Palermo, Italy; tel. 39.91.6040401; fax 39.91.6165425; e-mail brigaglia@ipamat.unipa.it

    ICHM World Directory of Historians of Mathematics

    The new edition, ed. by K. Andersen and M. Dybdahl, University of Aarhus, is available in print or on a disc (DOS.WP51). The price for a printed copy or a disc is $8 for residents of Europe and $10 for residents from outside Europe (postal charges included). Directions for ordering copies:
    1. Remit the necessary amount of money to the account of the treasurer of the ICHM. Menso Folkerts, Stadtsparkasse Munich, Haidhauser Strasse 1, 81675 Munich, Germany, Account number 28-267953 (bank code number 701 500 00), key word: World Directory.

    2. Send an order to Menso Folkerts, Institut fuer Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Ludwig- Maximilians-Universitaet Munich, Museumsinsel, Postfach, 80306 Munich, Germany See Historia Mathematica 22 (1995), 470. The ICHM hopes that its National Members will help in making the existence of the new edition known.

    Ongoing ICHM projects


    Photo Archive in Leipzig. The chairman wrote to the University of Leipzig in order to help Hans Joachim Ilgauds to continue his work with regard to the Photo Archive. For the time being the ICHM has to wait further on for a clarification of the situation at Leipzig Institute.

    Revised ICHM Bibliography

    Albert Lewis plans to work with the AMS in producing an on-line version of the ICHM annotated bibliography. The ICHM will give reasonable amount of money in order to help to realize this project.

    ICHM Dictionary on History of Mathematics

    The Dictionary project edited by John Fauvel continues to progress. It is to be published by Oxford University Press. Anyone interested in the progress of the project should contact John Fauvel, Mathematics Faculty, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, England.

    ICHM Historiography project

    The ICHM is in the last stages of completing a final draft of a major cooperative effort: Historiography of the History of Mathematicas. At present, nearly forty colleagues from all parts of the world are collaborating to describe the history of history of mathematics from the first historical writings on mathematics by the ancient Greeks and Chinese, to the present. The work will be finished presumably in 1996.

    World mathematical year 2000

    The ICHM wishes to contribute. Suggestions are welcome.


    A still rather new journal for the History and Philosphy of Science and Technology is Neusis. Greek historians and philosophers of science and technology edit this journal which appears biannually. The second volume appeared in spring 1995. All papers, book reviews, etc. are published in Greek. Submitted papers, written in other languages are translated into Greek, if they are accepted for publication. There is a big effort also to translate into Greek and to publish less recent papers who contributed to shape the discipline. This applies, in particular, to history of mathematics. The editorial office is headed by Jean Christianidis, Greek member of the ICHM.


    Adresses of the ICHM Chairman and Secretary:

    Chairman:
    Eberhard Knobloch,
    Technische Universitaet Berlin, Rohrdamm 22,
    13629 Berlin
    fax: 49.30/38006-112
    e-mail: ehkn0132@mailszrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de

    Secretary:
    Jeanne Peiffer,
    6 rue des deux gares,
    F-75010 Paris
    fax at CNRS (UPR 21): 33.1/45.81.16.47


    PUBLICATIONS

    IMU published one bulletin in 1995. The 10th World Directory of Mathematicians came out during the summer of 1994. ICMI published 2 Bulletins, both supported by UNESCO grants. Other publications by ICMI were described above. ICHM also had several publications in 1994; they are described above in the topic of the ICHM activities.


    ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

    The Executive Committee of IMU met once this year: on May 11-12, 1995, Collège de France, Paris.


    VITAL STATISTICS

    members (countries) = 60
    8 (IMU ) + 3 (ICMI ) + 6 (CDE ) + 7 (ICHM) = 24 conferences supported
    1 (IMU) + 2 (ICMI) = 3 bulletins; most conferences published their proceedings.