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The Swiss Mathematical Society News, Visit LMS NEWSLETTER http://newsletter.lms.ac.uk SwISS MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY In 1883, on the centenary of Euler's death, Ferdinand Rudio suggested to publish all books, papers and the correspondence of Leonhard Euler in a scientifc edition. Rudio was one of the organizers of the frst International Congress of Math- ematicians in 1897 in Zürich and advanced his plan on that occasion further. Finally, in 1907, the bi- centennial of Euler’s birth, the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences agreed to pursue this project and an Euler Committee was installed. The resulting activities made it desirable to have a national mathematical Euler's desk society which was then founded on 4 September 1910 by Marcel Grossmann, again in Zürich in 1932 and in 1994. Each Rudolf Fueter and Henri Fehr. A few years time, the SMS played a major role in organ- 28 later, the need for a mathematical journal izing the Congress. Moreover, in 2007, the was felt. Since Switzerland has four offcial SMS was the hosting organization of the languages, a Latin title for the journal was ICIAM in Zürich. chosen in a meeting of the Swiss Mathemati- In 1930, a Committee was set up by the SMS cal Society (SMS) on 20 May 1928: Commen- to take care of the legacy of Jakob Steiner, tarii Mathematici Helvetici. In the sequel, and in 1937 the same committee was given in 1929, Michel Plancherel, Andreas Speiser, the responsibility for the archive left by Émile Marchand and Rudolf Fueter estab- Ludwig Schläfi. The journal Elemente der lished the Foundation for the Promotion Mathematik was founded in 1946 by Louis of the Mathematical Sciences with the aim Locher-Ernst. In order to guarantee the con- to provide, together with the SMS, a solid tinuance of the journal, the SMS took over fnancial basis for the new journal. the responsibility for its publication in 1975. Zürich is the only city which hosted the ICM The SMS played a leading role in the three times: After the frst ICM in 1897, the creation of the European Mathematical international mathematical community met Society Publishing House in 2002 whose permanent offce resides at ETH Zürich. In particular, the SMS decided to have their journals published by the new publishing house. In order to join the efforts of the mathematical community to make the global mathematical corpus digitally available, the SMS founded in 2005 the Swiss Digital Math- ematical Library which archives the Com- mentarii, Elemente and L'Enseignement Mathématique, the offcial organ of the In- ternational Commission on Mathematical In- struction. This journal was founded in 1899 by Henri Fehr and Charles-Ange Laisant. [email protected] No. 468 April 2017 Today, the SMS organizes an Annual Meeting the Mathematical Sciences, the Swiss National in spring with a public lecture. The meeting Science Foundation and the Swiss Academy of also includes the General Assembly of the Sciences support this new venture. Society. Moreover, the SMS hosts a Fall Confer- Today, an important concern of the SMS is ence which is dedicated to a scientifc topic. It the promotion of mathematical instruction also supports national and international math- and of young mathematicians. In even years, ematical conferences in Switzerland. the SMS awards a Prize for young talents, The century-long task of publishing Euler's namely for the best maturity works in math- Opera Omnia is shortly before its comple- ematics at the school leaving examination. tion with 74 volumes in the Series I-III, and 9 The SMS publishes a weekly Bulletin, has volumes in the Series IVA with Euler's scientifc reciprocity and double member agreements correspondence. The Bernoulli-Euler Center, with many sister societies, among them the founded in 2010 and the Bernoulli-Euler LMS, and supports mathematics in developing Society, founded in 2014, aims to promote countries. In its history, the SMS has appointed research about the life and work of the Basel over 30 eminent mathematicians as honorary scholars who are counted among the most members. important scientists of the 18th century, and Further information about the SMS can be the conversion of the classic editorial activi- found on the website http://math.ch. ties into the digital age for the benefts of Norbert Hungerbühler the research and the future generations. The Past President SMS, the Foundation for the Promotion of Swiss Mathematical Society 29 MATHEMATICAL STAMPS wEBSITE The Sociedade Portuguesa de Matemática and in English and Portuguese, and it is hoped that the British Society for the History of Mathemat- other languages will be added in due course. ics have produced a Mathematical Stamps A one-hour public lecture given by Robin website, www.mathematicalstamps.eu, for Wilson on The History of Mathematics in 300 use by teachers and others. Featuring over 450 Stamps is available for watching on the Oxford postage stamps depicting mathematics and Mathematical Institute website at www.maths. mathematicians from around the world, it also ox.ac.uk/node/13353. includes an extensive historical commentary See a selection of the stamps on the back written by Robin Wilson. These are currently page of this Newsletter. VISIT OF MANFRED MADRITSCH Dr Manfred Madritsch (Institute Elie Cartan • 29 - 31 May, University of Reading (contact Nancy, Universite de Lorraine, Nancy, France) will Titus Hilberdink: [email protected]) be visiting the UK between 24 May and 2 June • 31 May - 2 June, University of Bristol (contact 2017. His research interests are in exponential Tim Browning: [email protected]) sums. Dr Madritsch will be visiting the following Precise dates and times as well as titles will be institutions where he will give talks: available closer to the time. Further details of • 24 -28 May, Royal Holloway, University of these arrangements may be obtained from Titus London (contact Martin Widmer: Martin. Hilberdink ([email protected]). The [email protected]) visit is supported by an LMS Scheme 2 grant..
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  • Full Text (PDF Format)
    A Glimpse of the de Rham Era by Srishti Chatterji and Manuel Ojanguren EPFL, SB IMA and IGAT, EPFL Introduction else poorly understood. We shall indicate de Rham’s far- flung connexions with the most eminent mathematicians The life of Georges de Rham (1903–1990) covered of his time and his activities in local, national, and inter- most of the momentous twentieth century, whose extraor- national circles. Several documents (mostly unpublished dinary events are still affecting our lives to-day. The de- letters) have been appended (referred to as document n, velopments in mathematics which took place during the n = 1,2,...) just before the bibliography. period of de Rham’s mathematical career, roughly the half- century 1925–1975, in which de Rham himself played a sig- nificant role, are still very much present in modern math- Review of Some Historical and Other Facts ematics. The de Rham era to which the title of the arti- The present constitution of Switzerland is a modifica- cle refers, is to be understood as concerning the years tion of that of 1848 which, in its actual form divides the (approximately) 1925–1975; the year 1925 marks the year country into 23 cantons, of which three are further subdi- of de Rham’s graduation from the University of Lausanne vided into two semi-cantons (these being Appenzell, Basel, and his launching into mathematical research; by 1975 de Unterwalden). Each canton or semi-canton is sovereign in Rham had officially retired from his professorial positions all internal as well as financial matters (in particular edu- at the Universities of Lausanne and Geneva.
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