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Report to the International Mathematical Union 1995-1997

by Eberhard Knobloch

from IMU Bulletin, no. 42, Special Issue, July 1998

Meetings of the EC

The EC met once a year:

  • October 17, 1995 at the Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques, Luminy (France)
  • November 6, 1996 at the Mathematical Institute, Oberwolfach (Germany)
  • July 25, 1997, at the International Congress of the History of Science, Liège (Belgium)

Conferences /Symposia/ Congresses (CSC)

  • In 1995 members of the ICHM organized CSC in Berlin (Germany), Groningen (The Netherlands), Luminy (France), Neuhofen (Austria). They contributed to CSC in Hamburg (Germany), Cerisy-la-Salle (France), Leiden and Voorburg (The Netherlands).
  • In 1996 members of the ICHM organized CSC in Seoul (Korea), and Oberwolfach (Germany). They contributed to CSC in Milton Keynes (UK), State College (USA), Paris (France), Delphi (Greece), and Berlin (Germany).
  • In 1997 members of the ICHM organized CSC in Liège (Belgium). They contributed to a conference in Luminy (France).
  • There are now two European centres for conferences on the history of mathematics: Oberwolfach and Luminy.

Courses

Members of the ICHM contributed to the European Honours Courses in History of Mathematics which took place in Utrecht (1995), Palermo (1996), and London (1997).

Projects

  1. The ICHM is compiling a database containing information about historians of mathematics around the world.
  2. The ICHM supports the photo archive of the Karl-Sudhoff-Institute at Leipzig University, Germany.
  3. The ICHM is working on a historiography of the history of mathematics, which will be edited by its members Joseph W.Dauben (USA) and Christoph J. Scriba (Germany).
  4. The ICHM is supporting the CD-ROM Edition of Joseph W. Dauben's Selected Bibliography on History of Mathematics. The editor will be Albert Lewis (Canada).
  5. In 1996 a committee of coordinators was established in order to formulate a suitable proposal for an Oberwolfach meeting in 2000. The new Chairman of the EC belongs to this committee.

Publications

  1. The official journal of the ICHM is Historia Mathematica. Every year four issues are published consisting of 500 pages. It is also electronically available.
  2. Once a year a Newsletter is prepared by the Secretary and the Chairman of the EC and distributed among the members of the ICHM (February 1995, February 1996, May 1997).
  3. Once a year the Chairman and the Secretary of the EC send a report about the scientific activities of the ICHM to the Secretary Jacob Palis (Brazil) of the IMU. The reports are published in the Bulletin of the International Mathematical Union.
  4. In 1995 Kirsti Andersen and M. Dybdahl edited the third edition of the World Directory of Historians of Mathematics for the ICHM.

Medals–Honours

In 1997 the Kenneth O. May Prize was awarded for the third time on the occasion of the XXth International Congress of the History of Science in Liège. The prize went to René Taton (France).

New Executive Committee

From January 1, 1998 onward there will be a new EC: 
Kirsti Andersen (Chair),
Craig Fraser (Vice Chair), 
Jeanne Peiffer (Secretary), 
Menso Folkerts (Treasurer).