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CMS: THE CANADIAN MOBILE SOCIETY Joseph Khoury and Graham P. Wright Associate Executive Director Executive Director IN THIS ISSUE DANS CE NUMÉRO Relocation of the Executive Office. Editorial ....................................2 it possible for an office for the December 2008, and possibly Meetings Coordinator to be April 2009. Éditorial ....................................3 incorporated within the other available space at 577 King We are grateful for the Book Review: Summa Edward. The re-arrangements tremendous spirit showed Summarum .............................4 For almost thirty years, the were completed in July and by the Executive Office staff Canadian Mathematical the demolition took place at during this period and for the Book Review: The Society has enjoyed a strong the beginning of August. The enormous effort made by the Wraparound Universe ..........5 relationship with the University University agreed to let the University of Ottawa to ensure of Ottawa at the scientific and Nouvelles du department.........5 CMS use one office at 575 King a smooth move with a minimal the administrative levels. The Edward as a storage room. level of disruption. For their CMS Executive Office has been Brief Book Reviews ..................6 support and assistance with located at 577 King Edward During demolition, the outside the relocation, thanks are Education Notes .......................7 Avenue, next door to the walls of another extension of due to the Executive Office Department of Mathematics 577 King Edward showed signs staff, Victor Leblanc (Chair CMS Winter 2008 Meeting and Statistics. During these of significant deterioration – Department of Mathematics Réunion d’hiver 2008 .............10 years, this relationship has and this part was declared and Statistics), André Lalonde proven to be extremely efficient, Call for nominations - 2009 unsafe for occupancy. An (Dean – Faculty of Science) effective and beneficial for both Doctoral Prize / Appel de mises immediate evacuation of the and their staff. the Society and the University. en candidature - Prix de doctorat personnel who had offices in 2009........................................18 this extension was ordered New Address Recently, the University of on August 11. This extension Mail sent to the 577 King Ottawa determined that the Call for Nominations - 2009 included the reception area Edward address will be space currently occupied by the CMS Excellence in Teaching on the first floor; as well as redirected to the new location CMS had significant structural Award / Appel de mises en the Accountants Office, the by the University of Ottawa problems that necessitated candidature - Prix d’excellence kitchen and the washroom mailing service. The new moving the CMS Executive en enseignement 2009 ...........19 facilities on the second floor. address for the CMS Executive Office. Office is: Call for Proposals for the The University had work done to temporarily reinforce this Jim Totten Special Issue / Appel Efforts by the Executive Office in extension so that the staff had 136 Jean-Jacques Lussier Private de propositions pour le numéro collaboration with University of limited access to the area. 252 Vanier Hall spécial de Crux en l’honneur de Ottawa administrators resulted Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Jim Totten ...............................19 in securing a space on the With such limited access to Campus of the University of washroom facilities and to Staff contact information, Calendar of events Ottawa for the short-term. Calendrier des événements ....26 the fire escape, there was an office phone, and fax numbers urgent need to evacuate the remain the same, as well as Background Tarifs et horaire 2008 Rates and building. Many meetings took all email contacts. Banking Earlier this year, the University deadlines ................................27 place between the Executive information does not change informed the CMS that the back Office and University of and all electronic payments extension of 577 King Edward Ottawa officials at different will be handled in the same (the Meeting Coordinator’s levels. These efforts resulted manner as currently. office) was beyond repair and in securing space elsewhere needed to be demolished. on Campus in the short term, Preparations were made to re- in particular, until the end of arrange some offices and make français page 21 continued on page 22 VOLUME 40 NO. 7 NOVEMBER/NOVEMBRE 2008 by Srinivasa Swaminathan EDITORIAL Dalhousie University, Halifax after his 60th birthday; clearly Hardy’s dictum is by no means “Lives of great men all remind us a universal truth! We can make our lives sublime In contrast, we may recall the famous names we come across in And, departing, leave us behind our mathematics courses — those who had a short span of life Footprints on the sands of time.” within which they made remarkable contributions. The earliest - H. W. Longfellow, A psalm of life, 1838 among these is the prodigy Blaise Pascal who lived from 1623 to 1662. The Norwegian Niels Henrik Abel lived in the early years of the nineteenth century and died at the very young age On August 13 the world of mathematics of 26 years and 8 months, of whom Hermite said, “he has left lost one of its eminent members; Henri Cartan passed away at mathematicians something to keep them busy for 500 years.” The the ripe age of 104. Son of Elie Cartan, himself a distinguished story of Evariste Galois (1811-1832) is well known. Not so well mathematician, Henri’s research contributions enriched many known is the geometer W. K. Clifford (1845-1879) who was a areas such as complex analysis, algebraic topology, and contemporary of Lewis Caroll. And there was the untrained and homological algebra. As one of the founding members of unsystematically self-taught Indian genius of the 20th century, the Seminaire Bourbaki he shone among the stalwarts André Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) who lived for 32 years and Weil, Claude Chevalley, Jean Dieudonné, Jean Delsarte, 4 months. and Jean Leray, Alexander Grothendieck and others. His enormous contributions to modern mathematics are reflected These examples illustrate what the French essayist, Michel de by publications during the span of more than seventy years, Montaigne wrote in 1580: «L’utilité de vivre n’est pas en l’espace, ranging from his first paper “Sur quelques théorèmes de M. R. elle est en l’usage... il gît en votre volonté, non au nombre des Nevanlinna” in the Comptes Rendus of 1927 to the obituary of ans, que vous ayez assez vécu. (The value of life does not lie in Samuel Eilenberg in the Gazette des Mathématiciens in 1998. the number of years but in the use you make of them... whether you have lived enough depends on your will, not on the number G. H. Hardy famously claimed that mathematics was a game of the of years.)” young. But do the facts bear this out? The list of mathematicians in the age group 80-90 who were quite active in their later years NOTES DE LA SMC CMS NOTES is long. Newton and Nicholas Bernoulli, who lived for 85 years, Les Notes de la SMC sont publiés par la Société The CMS Notes is published by the Canadian mathématique du Canada (SMC huit fois l’an Mathematical Society (CMS) eight times a are illustrious among early mathematicians who lived past 80. It (février, mars, avril, mai, septembre, octobre, year (February, March, April, May, September, is true Newton did most of his mathematical work in the first third novembre et décembre). October, November and December). of his life and published it in the middle third, devoting what today RÉDACTEURS EN CHEF EDITORS-IN-CHIEF would be his post-retirement years to religious speculation and punishing counterfeiters (as Master of the Mint). Robert Dawson, Srinivasa Swaminathan Robert Dawson, Srinivasa Swaminathan [email protected] [email protected] RÉDACTEURS-GÉRANT MANAGING EDITOR Several well-known mathematicians lived past ninety; these include Graham P. Wright Graham P. Wright Moritz Cantor (91), Maurice Fréchet (95), Otto Neugebauer (91), [email protected] [email protected] Bertrand Russell (97), H. S. M. Coxeter (96), George Pólya (98), RÉDACTION CONTRIBUTING EDITORS and Paul Montel (99). Among those who were productive in their Éducation : Edward Barbeau Education: Edward Barbeau later years we find the illustrious Jacques Hadamard (97) and [email protected] [email protected] Charles de la Valleé Poussin (95), who proved the prime number Critiques littéraires: Keith Johnson Book Reviews: Keith Johnson theorem independently in 1896; both lived to see the Space Age. [email protected] [email protected] They might well have become centenarians if only they had not Réunions : Gertrud Jeewanjee Meetings: Gertrud Jeewanjee lost their will to live. It appears that de la Valleé Poussin fractured [email protected] [email protected] his shoulder towards the end of his life, while Hadamard lost his Recherche : Vacant Research: Vacant spirit grieving over the death of his grandson Étienne who was [email protected] [email protected] killed in a mountaineering accident. Assistante à la rédaction : Susan Latreille Editorial Assistant: Susan Latreille Note aux auteurs : indiquer la section choisie pour The Editors welcome articles, letters and an- In the twentieth century, we start to find centenarian votre article et le faire parvenir au Notes de la nouncements, which can be sent to the CMS mathematicians. The first of these may have been the Ukrainian SMC à l’adresse postale ou de courriel ci-dessous. Notes at the address below. Boris Yakovych Bukreyev, who lived for 103 years, according Les Notes de la SMC, les rédacteurs et la SMC No responsibility for the views expressed by to the list of centenarian scientists and mathematicians. Others ne peuvent être tenus responsables des opinions authors is assumed by the CMS Notes, the exprimées pas les auteurs. Les fichiers d’option editors or the CMS.