Dear Reader,

The Spanish mathematical community is very pleased to host the ICM2006 in Madrid next August 22-30. This is the most important mathematical event ever celebrated in Spain, and is a natural continuation of the ICME 1996 in Sevilla and the Third European Congress of Mathematics 2000 in Barcelona.

The ICM2006 is a very special occasion for us. The last 20 years have seen a spectacular progress in Spanish mathematics; both production and quality have increased, opening up new horizons on the international mathematical scene. We are now in a position to meet new challenges by concentrating research on more ambitious goals, with the aim of arriving at the forefront of research on an international level and of participating more actively in the organizational side of mathematics. To this end, in August 2006, the Spanish mathematical community would like to extend the warmest welcome to our colleagues from all over the world, with the intention of strengthening our mutual bonds and encouraging them to visit us more assiduously in the future.

For decades, Spain has been a well known tourist destination, and in recent years has become a country that has opened its doors to immigrants from the Mediterranean area and Latin America. Spain is a thriving young democracy, a country with the desire to grow in a spirit of peace and freedom with all other countries. This is also the aim of the Spanish mathematical community. Though we are also young, we do not lack scope, and the ICM2006 represents our official début on the world scene.

We look forward to receiving our colleagues in Madrid and to extending to them our hospitality. It will provide them with the opportunity of getting to know this vibrant, changing, progressive city, as well as our mathematical community, which is also undergoing great changes. The ICM2006 is a turning point, the driving force for projects that only a few years ago would have been unimaginable. Spanish mathematicians have been greatly favoured by the celebration of the ICM2006, and it is our hope to give much back in return to all our friends in the world of mathematics who choose to visit us there.

Once again, we extend the most cordial welcome to all in Madrid in August!

Manuel de León

1. The President of IMU, John Ball, has received a knighthood in the New Year Honours list.
   <http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/4569656.stm>
2. The Special Development Fund (SDF) helps IMU to fulfill the important obligation of helping developing and economically disadvantaged countries within the framework of mathematical research. The Fund is used primarily for travel grants to young mathematicians to make it possible for them to participate in the International Congresses of Mathematicians. The Executive Committee of IMU elects an international committee to distribute the grants.

Mathematical societies are asked to donate to the fund. The American Mathematical Society allows its members to make a donation to the SDF when paying their membership fees and subsequently has made a significant contribution to the fund every year since at least 1991. Other mathematical societies that have contributed since 2002 are: Unione Matematica Italiana, Italy, Mathematical Society of Japan, Japan, Het Wiskundig Genootschap, Netherlands, and the London Mathematical Society, UK.

Encouraging young mathematicians from the developing world is fundamental to the goal of IMU and these donations help IMU to fulfill its mission.
Donations to the SDF can be sent at any time in any convertible currency to the following account. Individual contributions are also greatly appreciated.

IMU Account at the Institute for Advanced Study:
PNC Bank
76 Nassau Street
Princeton, NJ 08540
ABA # 031207607
Account # 8011913872

1) The registration is open! http://www.icm2006.org/

2) New Satellite Conferences

• Sixth International Workshop on Automated Deduction in Geometry, ADG-2006 Pontevedra 31 Aug-2 Sept
• Stochastic Analysis in Mathematical Physics Lisboa (Portugal) 4-8 September
• CIMPA-School: New Trends in Singularities Madrid 14-21 August
• 7th International Conference on Monte Carlo and Quasi-Monte Carlo Methods in Scientific Computing, MCQMC- 2006 Ulm (Germany) 14-18 August
• International Summer School and Workshop on Operator Algebras, Operator Theory and Applications ITS-Lisboa (Portugal) 1-5 September
• Workshop From Lie algebras to quantum groups Coimbra (Portugal) 28-30 June
• Geometric and Asymptotic Group Theory with Applications UPC Manresa (Barcelona) 1-5 September
• International Congress on K-Theory and non-commutative geometry (VASBI) Valladolid 31 Aug-6 Sept
• CR Geometry and PDE's CIRM-Trento (Italy) 3-8 September
• II Euro-Japanese Workshop on Blow-up El Escorial (Madrid) 4-8 September
• International Conference on Global Differential Geometry Muenster (Germany) 13-19 August
• International Congress of Mathematical Software 2006 Castro Urdiales (Cantabria) 1-3 September
• 2nd SIPTA Summer School on Imprecise Probabilities URJC-I (Madrid) 24-28 July
• International Conference on Complex Analysis and Potential Theory Gebze Institute of Technology Istanbul (Turkey) 8-14 September
• Geometric Aspects of Integrable Systems University of Coimbra – Portugal 17 -19 July
• International Conference on "The Logic of Soft Computing" Málaga 13-15 September
• 3rd International Workshop on Mathematical Techniques and Problems in Telecommunications Leiria (Portugal) 4-8 September
• The Summer School "Statistical Tools in Knowledge Building" CIM, (Coimbra, Portugal) 23-29 July
• Geometric Measure Theory Napoles (Italy) 1-5 September
• Integrable Systems in Applied Mathematics Colmenarejo (Madrid) 7-12 September
• Advances in PDE's Geometry Madrid 31 Aug-3 September
• CMDE2006 - 'Communicating Mathematics in the Digital Era' Aveiro (Portugal) 15-18 August E
• XXIst International Workshop On Differential Geometric Methods In Theoretical Mechanics Madrid 31 Aug-7 September
• International Workshop On Spatio-Temporal Modelling (METMA3) Pamplona 27-29 September
• Algebraic Geometry and Geometric Modeling (AGGM 2006) IMUB, Barcelona 4-8 September
• MKM 2006, the Fifth International Conference on Mathematical Knowledge Management TBA (UK) 10-12 August
• New Trends in Viscosity Solutions and Nonlinear PDE Lisboa (Portugal) 24-28 July
• IV Summer School in Modern Mathematical Physics Zlatibor (Serbia and Montenegro) 3-14 September
• XVth Oporto Meeting on Geometry, Topology and Physics Oporto (Portugal) 20-23 July
• Workshop on Analytic aspects of low dimensional geometry Warwick (UK) 4-9 September - Workshop on Triangulated Categories Leeds (UK) 13-19 August
• The Eighth International Conference on Computational Structures Technology Las Palmas de GC 13-15 September
• The Fifth International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology Las Palmas de GC 13-15 September

3) Special Activities

1. ICM 2006 Closing Round Table
   Are pure and applied mathematics drifting apart?
   Moderator: John Ball, IMU President
   Panelists: Lennart Carleson, Ronald Coifman, Yuri Manin, Peter Sarnak,
2. Special Lecture on the Poincaré Conjecture
   John Morgan, Columbia University, New York, USA
3. Emmy Noether Lecture
   Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat
   Title: Mathematical problems in General Relativity
4. e-Learning Mathematics, a Panel Discussion
   Organised by the Executive Committee of the Spanish Conference of Deans of Mathematics
   Moderator: Sebastian Xambó Descamps
   Panelists: Hyman Bass, Hilda Bolaños Evia, Ruedi Seiler, Mika Seppälä

Several years ago now, the CEIC made the following call to mathematicians: "Mathematics ages slowly. Access to older literature is important for most mathematicians, and yet much of the older literature is likely to remain unavailable in electronic form in the immediate future. Mathematicians can change that by taking collective action. Whenever legally and technically possible, mathematicians are encouraged to scan their old (pre-TeX) papers and post them on their homepages, making their "collected work" readily available to all. This relatively small effort on the part of every mathematician will provide enormous benefit to the entire community."

This proposal was endorsed by the IMU.

However, few of us have endorsed it by our actions. Truth is, it's too much trouble.

What can you do?

1. Put a list of your publications on your website.
2. Link each publication to its review in the Zentralblatt and in Math. Reviews.
3. Add a link to an available final preprint.
4. Put such preprints on the arXiv, or some equivalent permanent site.
5. Scan pre-TeX papers and add links to those scans.

That's in order of effective difficulty as I see it. Even just the first step may be helpful.

Why should you do it?

(a) It pays to advertise.
(b) It's a good deed.
(c) It pays to advertise.

Have I done it?
Well, sort of partly four years ago when I happened to be paying a student assistant who had nothing better to do for me (and, no, I haven't updated it since, but I have put some recent papers on the arXiv). My fellow CEIC member Martin Groetschel plainly has strong continuing assistance; google him.

Alf van der Poorten
(alf@math.mq.edu.au) Member of the CEIC

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is pleased to invite nominations for the 2006 Ramanujan Prize for young mathematicians from developing countries. The Prize is funded by the Niels Henrik Abel Memorial Fund.
The Prize carries a $10,000 cash award and an allowance to visit ICTP for a meeting where the Prize winner will be required to deliver a lecture. The Prize will be awarded annually to a researcher from a developing country less than 45 years of age on 31 December of the year of the award, who has conducted outstanding research in a developing country. Researchers working in any branch of the mathematical sciences are eligible. The Prize will be awarded usually to one person, but may be shared equally among recipients who have contributed to the same body of work. The Prize winner will be selected by ICTP through a committee of five eminent mathematicians appointed in conjunction with the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The deadline for receipt of nominations is July 31, 2006.
The first winner of the Prize for 2005 is Professor Marcelo A. Viana from IMPA, Brazil, and the award Ceremony was held at ICTP on December 15, 2005.

Please send nominations to director@ictp.trieste.it describing the work of the nominee in adequate detail. Two supporting letters should also be arranged.

The 7th Junior Mathematical Congress will be organized in cooperation by the University of Miskolc and partners, at the University Sapientia, Tg Mures Romania in 2006, 25 June to 2 July.