CONTENTS EDITORIAL TEAM EUROPEAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF MARTIN RAUSSEN Department of Mathematical Sciences, Aalborg University Fredrik Bajers Vej 7G DK-9220 Aalborg, Denmark e-mail: [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITORS VASILE BERINDE Department of Mathematics, University of Baia Mare, Romania NEWSLETTER No. 53 e-mail: [email protected] KRZYSZTOF CIESIELSKI Mathematics Institute September 2004 Jagiellonian University EMS Agenda ........................................................................................................... 2 Reymonta 4, 30-059 Kraków, Poland e-mail: [email protected] Editorial - Manuel Castellet .................................................................................. 3 STEEN MARKVORSEN Department of Mathematics, Technical EMS meetings at Uppsala ........................................................................................ 4 University of Denmark, Building 303 DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark EMS Summer Schools ............................................................................................. 6 e-mail: [email protected] Report on the 4th ECM - Ulf Persson ................................................................... 7 ROBIN WILSON Department of Pure Mathematics Visions of Young Mathematicians - Jan Larsson and Mikael Johansson.......... 12 The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK Reflections on ICME-10 - Vagn Lundsgaard Hansen ...................................... 14 e-mail: [email protected] COPY EDITOR: 25 years proof of the Kneser conjecture - Mark de Longueville ......................... 16 KELLY NEIL 100th Birthday of Henri Cartan ............................................................................ 20 School of Mathematics University of Southampton Interview with Nuno Crato .................................................................................... 22 Highfield SO17 1BJ, UK e-mail: [email protected] Interview with Michael Atiyah and Isadore Singer ............................................. 24 SPECIALIST EDITORS Abel Prize Celebration 2004 .................................................................................. 31 INTERVIEWS Steen Markvorsen [address as above] Greek Mathematical Society ................................................................................. 34 SOCIETIES Krzysztof Ciesielski [address as above] French-Polish cooperation in Approximation Theory ........................................ 36 EDUCATION Tony Gardiner ERCOM: CRM Barcelona ..................................................................................... 37 University of Birmingham Forthcoming Conferences ..................................................................................... 40 Birmingham B15 2TT, UK e-mail: [email protected] Recent Books .......................................................................................................... 42 MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS Paul Jainta Werkvolkstr. 10 Designed and printed by Armstrong Press Limited D-91126 Schwabach, Germany Crosshouse Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 5GZ, UK e-mail: [email protected] telephone: (+44) 23 8033 3132 fax: (+44) 23 8033 3134 ANNIVERSARIES e-mail: [email protected] June Barrow-Green and Jeremy Gray Open University [address as above] Published by European Mathematical Society e-mail: [email protected] ISSN 1027 - 488X and [email protected] CONFERENCES The views expressed in this Newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessari- Vasile Berinde [address as above] ly represent those of the EMS or the Editorial team. RECENT BOOKS Ivan Netuka and Vladimír Souèek Mathematical Institute NOTICE FOR MATHEMATICAL SOCIETIES Charles University, Sokolovská 83 Labels for the next issue will be prepared during the second half of November 2004. 18600 Prague, Czech Republic Please send your updated lists before then to Ms Tuulikki Mäkeläinen, Department of e-mail: [email protected] Mathematics and Statistics, P.O. Box 68 (Gustav Hällströmintie 2B), FI-00014 University of and [email protected] Helsinki, Finland; e-mail: [email protected] ADVERTISING OFFICER INSTITUTIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE EMS NEWSLETTER Vivette Girault Institutes and libraries can order the EMS Newsletter by mail from the EMS Secretariat, Laboratoire d’Analyse Numérique Department of Mathematics and Statistics, P.O. Box 68 (Gustav Hällströmintie 2B), FI-00014 Boite Courrier 187, Université Pierre University of Helsinki, Finland, or by e-mail: ([email protected] ). 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EMS September 2004 1 EMS NEWS EMS Committee EMS Agenda EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2004 PRESIDENT 15 November Prof. Sir JOHN KINGMAN (2003-06) Isaac Newton Institute Deadline for submission of material for the December issue of the EMS Newsletter 20 Clarkson Road Contact: Martin Raussen, e-mail: [email protected] Cambridge CB3 0EH, UK e-mail: [email protected] 12-19 December VICE-PRESIDENTS EMS Summer School and Séminaire Européen de Statistique at Munich (Germany) Prof. LUC LEMAIRE (2003-06) The Statistics of Spatio-Temporal Systems Department of Mathematics Web site: http://www.stat.uni-muenchen.de/semstat2004/ Université Libre de Bruxelles C.P. 218 – Campus Plaine Bld du Triomphe 2005 B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium 5-13 February e-mail: [email protected] EMS Summer School at Eilat (Israel) Prof. BODIL BRANNER (2001–04) Applications of braid groups and braid monodromy Department of Mathematics Technical University of Denmark 16-17 April Building 303 EMS Executive Committee meeting at Capri (Italy) DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark e-mail: [email protected] 25 June – 2 July SECRETARY EMS Summer School at Pontignano (Italy) Prof. HELGE HOLDEN (2003-06) Department of Mathematical Sciences Subdivision schemes in geometric modelling, theory and applications Norwegian University of Science and Technology Alfred Getz vei 1 17-23 July NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway EMS Summer School and European young statisticians’ training camp at Oslo e-mail: [email protected] (Norway) TREASURER Prof. OLLI MARTIO (2003-06) 13-23 September Department of Mathematics EMS Summer School at Barcelona (Catalunya, Spain) P.O. Box 4, FIN-00014 Recent trends of Combinatorics in the mathematical context University of Helsinki, Finland e-mail: [email protected] 16-18 September ORDINARY MEMBERS Prof. VICTOR BUCHSTABER (2001–04) EMS-SCM Joint Mathematical Weekend at Barcelona (Catalunya, Spain) Steklov Mathematical Institute Russian Academy of Sciences 25 September – 2 October Gubkina St. 8, Moscow 117966, Russia EMS Summer School and Séminaire Européen de Statistique at Warwick (UK) e-mail: [email protected] Statistics in Genetics and Molecular Biology Prof. DOINA CIORANESCU (2003–06) Laboratoire d’Analyse Numérique 12-16 December Université Paris VI 4 Place Jussieu EMS-SIAM-UMALCA joint meeting in applied mathematics 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Venue: the CMM (Centre for Mathematical Modelling), Santiago de Chile e-mail: [email protected] Prof. PAVEL EXNER (2003-06) 2006 Department of Theoretical Physics, NPI 22-30 August Academy of Sciences International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid (Spain) 25068 Rez – Prague, Czech Republic e-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.icm2006.org Prof. MARTA SANZ-SOLÉ (2001-04) Facultat de Matematiques 2007 Universitat de Barcelona Gran Via 585 16-20 July E-08007 Barcelona, Spain ICIAM 2007, Zurich (Switzerland) e-mail: [email protected] Prof. MINA TEICHER (2001–04) Department of Mathematics and 2008 Computer Science July Bar-Ilan University 5th European Mathematical Congress, Amsterdam (The Netherlands) Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel e-mail: [email protected] Cost of advertisements and inserts in the EMS Newsletter, 2004 EMS SECRETARIAT Ms. T. MÄKELÄINEN (all prices in British pounds) Department of Mathematics and Statistics P.O. Box 68 (Gustav Hällströmintie 2B) Advertisements FI-00014 University of Helsinki Commercial rates: Full page: £230; half-page: £120; quarter-page: £74 Finland Academic rates: Full page: £120; half-page: £74; quarter-page: £44 tel: (+358)-9-1915-1426 Intermediate rates: Full page: £176; half-page: £98; quarter-page: £59 fax: (+358)-9-1915-1400 telex: 124690 Inserts e-mail: [email protected] Postage cost: £14 per gram plus Insertion cost: £58 (e.g. a leaflet weighing 8.0 grams will Web site: http://www.emis.de cost 8x£14+£58 = £170) (weight to nearest 0.1 gram) 2 EMS September 2004 EDITORIAL EditorialEditorial Manuel Castellet (Barcelona) Chairman of ERCOM ERCOM is a committee of the European at the same time: it is a building and it is an Mathematical Society created in 1996 con- organisation of people working together and sisting of Scientific Directors of European dedicated to the pursuit and support of Research Centres in the Mathematical research. But at its best it is more. It starts life Sciences, or their chosen representatives. as an idea in the mind of one or more per- Only centres in which the number of visiting sons, of insight and imagination, and then staff substantially exceeds the number of per- lives and grows by spreading the spirit, manent and long-term staff and that broadly imbued by their founders, through