CONTENTS EDITORIAL TEAM EUROPEAN MATHEMATICAL SOCIETY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ROBIN WILSON Department of Pure Mathematics The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK e-mail: [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITORS STEEN MARKVORSEN Department of Mathematics Technical University of Denmark NEWSLETTER No. 40 Building 303 DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark June 2001 e-mail: [email protected] KRZYSZTOF CIESIELSKI EMS Agenda ................................................................................................. 2 Mathematics Institute Jagiellonian University Editorial - David Salinger ............................................................................ 3 Reymonta 4 30-059 Kraków, Poland SIAM-EMS Conference .................................................................................. 4 e-mail: [email protected] KATHLEEN QUINN Executive Committee Meeting ....................................................................... 6 The Open University [address as above] e-mail: [email protected] The Institute for Industrial Mathematics ..................................................... 8 SPECIALIST EDITORS Workshop on Applied Mathematics in Europe ...............................................9 INTERVIEWS Steen Markvorsen [address as above] GAMM Annual Scientific Conference 2001 ................................................ 11 SOCIETIES Krzysztof Ciesielski [address as above] The Methodology of Mathematics ................................................................ 12 EDUCATION Tony Gardiner Interview with Björn Engquist .................................................................... 15 University of Birmingham Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Interview with Manuel Valdivia .................................................................. 16 e-mail: [email protected] MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS Mathematical Societies: France ................................................................. 18 Paul Jainta Werkvolkstr. 10 Mathematical Societies: Romania ............................................................. 20 D-91126 Schwabach, Germany e-mail: [email protected] Personal Column ......................................................................................... 23 ANNIVERSARIES Forthcoming Conferences ............................................................................ 25 June Barrow-Green and Jeremy Gray Open University [address as above] Recent Books ............................................................................................... 30 e-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] and CONFERENCES Designed and printed by Armstrong Press Limited Kathleen Quinn [address as above] Crosshouse Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO14 5GZ, UK RECENT BOOKS telephone: (+44) 23 8033 3132 fax: (+44) 23 8033 3134 Ivan Netuka and Vladimir Sou³ek Published by European Mathematical Society Mathematical Institute ISSN 1027 - 488X Charles University Sokolovská 83 The views expressed in this Newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily 18600 Prague, Czech Republic represent those of the EMS or the Editorial team. e-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] ADVERTISING OFFICER NOTICE FOR MATHEMATICAL SOCIETIES Vivette Girault Labels for the next issue will be prepared during the second half of August 2001. Laboratoire d’Analyse Numérique Please send your updated lists before then to Ms Tuulikki Mäkeläinen, Department of Mathematics, P.O. Box 4, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland; e-mail: Boite Courrier 187, Université Pierre [email protected] et Marie Curie, 4 Place Jussieu 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France INSTITUTIONAL SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE EMS NEWSLETTER e-mail: [email protected] Institutes and libraries can order the EMS Newsletter by mail from the EMS Secretariat, OPEN UNIVERSITY Department of Mathematics, P. O. Box 4, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland, or by e- PRODUCTION TEAM mail: ([email protected]). Please include the name and full address (with postal code), tele- Liz Scarna, Kathleen Quinn phone and fax number (with country code) and e-mail address. The annual subscription fee (including mailing) is 60 euros; an invoice will be sent with a sample copy of the Newsletter. EMS June 2001 1 EMS NEWS EMS Committee EMS Agenda EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE PRESIDENT (1999–2002) 2001 Prof. ROLF JELTSCH 19-21 June Seminar for Applied Mathematics EMS lectures at the University of Heraklion, Crete (Greece) ETH, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland Lecturer: Prof. George Papanicolaou (Stanford, USA) e-mail: [email protected] Title: Time Reversed Acoustics VICE-PRESIDENTS Contact: David Brannan, e-mail: [email protected] Prof. LUC LEMAIRE (1999–2002) 9-25 July Department of Mathematics EMS Summer School at St Petersburg (Russia) Université Libre de Bruxelles Title: Asymptotic combinatorics with applications to mathematical physics C.P. 218 – Campus Plaine Organiser: Anatoly Vershik, e-mail: [email protected] Bld du Triomphe B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium 15 August e-mail: [email protected] Deadline for proposals for 2003, 2004 and 2005 EMS Summer Schools Prof. BODIL BRANNER (2001–2004) Contact: Renzo Piccinini, e-mail: [email protected] Department of Mathematics Deadline for submission of material for the September issue of the EMS Newsletter Technical University of Denmark Contact: Robin Wilson, e-mail: [email protected] Building 303 19-31 August DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark EMS Summer School at Prague (Czech Republic) e-mail: [email protected] Title: Simulation of fluid and structure interaction SECRETARY (1999–2002) Organiser: Miloslav Feistauer, e-mail: [email protected] Prof. DAVID BRANNAN Department of Pure Mathematics 24-30 August The Open University EMS lectures in Malta, as part of the 10th International Meeting of European Women in Walton Hall Mathematics Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK Lecturer: Michèle Vergne (Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France) e-mail: [email protected] Title: Convex polytopes TREASURER (1999–2002) Contact: Dr. Tsou Sheung Tsun, e-mail: [email protected] Prof. OLLI MARTIO 1-2 September Department of Mathematics EMS Executive Committee meeting, Berlin (Germany) P.O. Box 4 3-6 September FIN-00014 University of Helsinki Finland 1st EMS-SIAM conference, Berlin (Germany) e-mail: [email protected] Organiser: Peter Deuflhard, e-mail: [email protected] ORDINARY MEMBERS 15 November Prof. VICTOR BUCHSTABER (2001–2004) Deadline for submission of material for the December issue of the EMS Newsletter Department of Mathematics and Mechanics Contact: Robin Wilson, e-mail: [email protected] Moscow State University 19-21 November 119899 Moscow, Russia EMS lectures at Università degli Studi, Tor Vergata, Rome (Italy) e-mail: [email protected] Lecturer: Michèle Vergne (Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France) Prof. DOINA CIORANESCU (1999–2002) Laboratoire d’Analyse Numérique Title: Convex Polytopes Université Paris VI Contact: Prof. Maria Welleda Baldoni, e-mail:[email protected] 4 Place Jussieu 22-23 November 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Fifth Diderot Mathematical Forum e-mail: [email protected] Title: Mathematics and Telecommunications Prof. RENZO PICCININI (1999–2002) Venues: Eindhoven (Netherlands) Helsinki (Finland) and Lausanne (Switzerland) Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni Contact: Jean-Pierre Bourgignon, e-mail: [email protected] Università di Milano-Bicocca Via Bicocca degli Arcimboldi, 8 20126 Milano, Italy 2002 e-mail: [email protected] 9-10 February Prof. MARTA SANZ-SOLÉ (1997–2000) Executive Committee Meeting in Brussels, at the invitation of the Belgian Facultat de Matematiques Mathematical Society and the Université Libre de Bruxelles Universitat de Barcelona 24 February-1 March Gran Via 585 EMS Summer School in Eilat (Israel) E-08007 Barcelona, Spain Title: Algebraic Geometry, Computations and Applications e-mail: [email protected] Contact: Mina Teicher, e-mail: [email protected] Prof. MINA TEICHER (2001–2004) 1 March Department of Mathematics and Computer Deadline for Proposals for 2003 EMS Lectures. Science Bar-Ilan University Contact: David Brannan, e-mail: [email protected] Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel 31 May e-mail: [email protected] Executive Committee meeting in Oslo (Norway) EMS SECRETARIAT 1-2 June Ms. T. MÄKELÄINEN EMS Council Meeting, Oslo Department of Mathematics 3-8 June P.O. Box 4 Abel Bicentennial Conference, Oslo. FIN-00014 University of Helsinki Finland tel: (+358)-9-1912-2883 2004 fax: (+358)-9-1912-3213 25-27 June telex: 124690 EMS Council Meeting, Stockholm (Sweden) e-mail: [email protected] 27 June - 2 July website: http://www.emis.de 4th European Congress of Mathematicians (4ecm), Stockholm (Sweden) 2 EMS June 2001 EDITORIAL possible outcome of a reform that has been imposed from above without consultation with the academic disciplines. Indeed, the picture could be even bleaker: the ominous EditorialEditorial phrase ‘a European dimension to quality assurance’ conjures up a vision of philistine David Salinger bureaucratic control, and maybe the impo- sition of a common curriculum. The Bologna Declaration: a Bachelor’s degree for all To be fair, the Bologna Declaration declares specifically that it is aiming for convergence, not uniformity, and the evi- On 19 June 1999, 29 European Education dence so far is that each country is inter- Ministers signed a document that has preting the Declaration in its own way. become known as the Bologna Declaration. One of the strengths of European Higher Education is its diversity