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Asia Pacific<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

April 2012 Volume 2 Number 2<br />

www.asiapacific-mathnews.com<br />

Mathematical Billiards<br />

Original image linear<br />

reconstruction<br />

compressive sensing<br />

reconstruction<br />

Đào Hồng Tuyển villa: Seminar & workshop venue for<br />

VIASM


Advisory Board<br />

Tony F Chan<br />

Hong Kong University of Science and<br />

Technology<br />

Hong Kong<br />

ophkust@ust.hk<br />

Louis Chen<br />

Institute for Mathematical Sciences<br />

National University of Singapore<br />

Singapore<br />

imsdir@nus.edu.sg<br />

Chi Tat Chong<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

National University of Singapore<br />

Singapore<br />

matcct@nus.edu.sg<br />

Kenji Fukaya<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Kyoto University<br />

fukaya@math.kyoto-u.ac.jp<br />

Peter Hall<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Statistics<br />

The University of Melbourne, Australia<br />

halpstat@ms.unimelb.edu.au<br />

Editorial Board<br />

Ryo Chou<br />

1-34-8 Taito Taitou<br />

Mathematical Society<br />

Japan<br />

msjchou@muse.ocn.ne.jp<br />

Fuzhou Gong<br />

Institute of Appl. Math.<br />

Academy of Math and Systems Science, CAS<br />

Zhongguan Village East Road No.55<br />

Beijing 100190, China<br />

fzgong@amt.ac.cn<br />

Le Tuan Hoa<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, VAST<br />

18 Hoang Quoc Road<br />

10307 Hanoi<br />

Vietnam<br />

lthoa@math.ac.vn<br />

Gerard Jennhwa Chang<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

National Taiwan University<br />

Taiwan<br />

gjchang@math.ntu.edu.tw<br />

Michio Jimbo<br />

Rikkyo University<br />

Japan<br />

jimbomm@rikkyo.ac.jp<br />

Dohan Kim<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Seoul National University<br />

South Korea<br />

dhkim@snu.ac.kr<br />

Peng Yee Lee<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> and <strong>Mathematics</strong> Education<br />

National Institute of Education<br />

Nanyang Technological University<br />

Singapore<br />

pengyee.lee@nie.edu.sg<br />

Ta-Tsien Li<br />

School of Mathematical Sciences<br />

Fudan University<br />

China<br />

dqli@fudan.edu.cn<br />

Derek Holton<br />

University of Otaga, New Zealand, &<br />

University of Melbourne, Australia<br />

605/228 The Avenue<br />

Parkville, VIC 3052<br />

Australia<br />

derek.holton@bigpond.com<br />

Chang-Ock Lee<br />

Department of Mathematical Sciences<br />

KAIST, Daejeon 305-701, South Korea<br />

colee@amath.kaist.ac.kr<br />

Yu Kiang Leong<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

National University of Singapore<br />

10 Lower Kent Ridge Rd<br />

Singapore 119076<br />

matlyk@nus.edu.sg<br />

Zhiming Ma<br />

Academy of Math and Systems Science<br />

Institute of Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong>, CAS<br />

China<br />

mazm@amt.ac.cn<br />

Charles Semple<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Statistics<br />

University of Canterbury<br />

New Zealand<br />

charles.semple@canterbury.ac.nz<br />

Yeneng Sun<br />

Department of Economics<br />

National University of Singapore<br />

Singapore<br />

ynsun@nus.edu.sg<br />

Tang Tao<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

The Hong Kong Baptist University<br />

Hong Kong<br />

ttang@hkbu.edu.hk<br />

Spenta Wadia<br />

Department of Theoretical Physics<br />

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research<br />

India<br />

wadia@theory.tifr.res.in<br />

Ramdorai Sujatha<br />

School of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research<br />

Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba<br />

Mumbai 400005, India<br />

sujatha@math.tifr.res.in<br />

Shun-Jen Cheng<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Academia Sinica<br />

6F, Astronomy-<strong>Mathematics</strong> Building<br />

No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road<br />

Taipei 10617, Taiwan<br />

chengsj@math.sinica.edu.tw<br />

Chengbo Zhu<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

National University of Singapore<br />

10 Lower Kent Ridge Rd<br />

Singapore 119076<br />

matzhucb@nus.edu.sg


Asia Pacific<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

April 2012<br />

Editor<br />

S C Lim<br />

Production<br />

Tan Rok Ting<br />

Kwong Lai Fun<br />

Zhang Ji<br />

He Yue<br />

Artist<br />

C C Ng<br />

The views expressed in this<br />

<strong>Newsletter</strong> belong to the authors,<br />

and do not necessarily represent<br />

those of the publisher or the<br />

Advisory Board and Editorial Board.<br />

• Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

is listed in MathSciNet.<br />

• For submission of feature articles,<br />

news, conference reports and<br />

announcements, etc. please send<br />

to APMN@wspc.com.<br />

• For advertisement please contact<br />

adsAPMN@wspc.com.<br />

Published by<br />

World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.<br />

5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224<br />

http://www.asiapacific-mathnews.com/<br />

Electronic – ISSN 2010-3492<br />

Editorial<br />

Volume 2 Number 2<br />

Compressive Sensing and Applications ...............................................................................................................1<br />

Mathematical Billiards .............................................................................................................................................................6<br />

Indo–French Cooperation in <strong>Mathematics</strong> ..................................................................................................11<br />

Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in <strong>Mathematics</strong> ...................................................................19<br />

Interview with Srinivasa Varadhan .........................................................................................................................24<br />

Interview with Gus Lehrer ................................................................................................................................................30<br />

Endre Szemerédi Receives 2012 Abel Prize ...................................................................................................37<br />

Indian Women and <strong>Mathematics</strong> .............................................................................................................................38<br />

News in Asia Pacific Region ............................................................................................................................................39<br />

Conferences in Asia Pacific Region ........................................................................................................................51<br />

Mathematical Societies in Asia Pacific Region ...........................................................................................61


Editorial<br />

The previous issue of our newsletter featuring Alan<br />

Turing was quite well-received. There were requests<br />

to translate or reproduce some of the articles. Your<br />

suggestions and contributions to feature well-known<br />

mathematicians in our future issues will be most welcome.<br />

This issue carries two interviews, one with Srinivasa<br />

Varadhan, and the other with Gus Lehrer. Srinivasa Varadhan<br />

is a highly regarded probabilist who was honoured with the<br />

Abel Prize in 2007 and also presented with the National<br />

Medal of Science by President Obama in 2010. The<br />

second interviewee was Gus Lehrer, an algebraist that has<br />

experienced the wartime horrors of Europe. He is known for<br />

developing the Howlett–Lehrer theory which is very useful<br />

in different areas of mathematics.<br />

The contribution by Professor Lê Tuấn Hoa, Managing<br />

Director of the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> (VIASM) and his co-author, Trần Văn Nhung,<br />

traces the genesis of VIASM in detail.<br />

The article “Indo-French Cooperation in <strong>Mathematics</strong>”<br />

describes how French and Indian mathematicians built up<br />

a close collaboration in various topics in mathematics. We<br />

hope to publish similar articles on regional and international<br />

cooperation in research and education in mathematics.<br />

No solutions were sent in for the problems in the Problem<br />

Corner of the previous issue of APMN. As a result, the<br />

problems from the previous issue are still open to readers<br />

to send in their solutions. A book token would be awarded<br />

to readers who send in the correct answers.<br />

We are happy to say that Professor Peter Hall (University<br />

of Melbourne) has kindly and graciously agreed to<br />

help us arrange interviews with well-known Australian<br />

mathematicians. We have started to publish these interviews<br />

since our last issue, and more will appear in future issues of<br />

APMN. It is our hope that each mathematician interviewed<br />

would also contribute an article to highlight his/her work.<br />

One way for us to overcome the shortage of expository<br />

articles for the newsletter is to translate articles that have<br />

appeared in various national mathematics newsletters and<br />

bulletins. So far, we have published articles translated from<br />

Chinese, Japanese and Korean. We hope to be able to do so<br />

for articles published in other languages in the Asia Pacific<br />

region. Of course, it would be nice to have original articles<br />

in English sent directly to APMN.<br />

Swee Cheng Lim<br />

Editor<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong> welcomes<br />

contributions on the following items:<br />

• Expository articles on mathematical topics of general<br />

interest<br />

• Articles on mathematics education<br />

• Introducing centres of excellence in mathematical<br />

sciences<br />

• News of mathematical societies in the Asia Pacific region<br />

• Introducing well-known mathematicians from the Asia<br />

Pacific region<br />

• Book reviews<br />

• Conference reports and announcements held in Asia<br />

Pacific countries<br />

• Letters from readers on relevant topics and issues<br />

• Other items of interest to the mathematics community


Compressive Sensing and Applications<br />

Myungjoo Kang and Myeongmin Kang Kang<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

1<br />

Compressive Sensing and Application<br />

1. Compressive Sensing<br />

Consider a one-dimensional, finite-length signal<br />

x ∈ CN . We will vectorise a two-dimensional<br />

image or higher-dimensional data into a long onedimensional<br />

vector. Many real-world signals can<br />

be well-approximated by sparse or compressible<br />

under a suitable basis. Let Ψ=[ψ1|ψ2|···|ψN] be<br />

an orthonormal basis. Then a signal x can be<br />

N�<br />

expressed as x = 〈x, ψn〉ψn. We say that x is<br />

n=1<br />

k-sparse under Ψ if {fn = 〈x, ψn〉}n=1,...,N has only<br />

k-nonzero coefficients, and that x is compressible<br />

under Ψ if {〈x, ψn〉}n=1,...,N has a few large<br />

coefficients.<br />

Compressive sensing is that a sparse signal<br />

can be recovered from what was previously believed<br />

to be incomplete information. Consider<br />

Φ = [φ1|φ2|···|φN] ∈ C M×N for some M < N.<br />

Then, we can obtains b =Φx = ΦΨf = Af where<br />

A = ΦΨ. The measurements Φ is fixed and does<br />

not depend on the signal x and then A is selected<br />

independent of f . A is referred to as the encoder<br />

and obviously encoder is linear. In the encoder,<br />

we need to design a good sensing matrix A. The<br />

decoder is the attempted recovery of f from its<br />

sensing matrix A and b. We define ||f ||0 := |supp f |<br />

for a signal f . The quantity || · ||0 is often called<br />

ℓ0-norm although it is actually not a norm. With<br />

a sparsity prior, a natural decoder is to search for<br />

the sparsest vector f that b = Af :<br />

min || f ||0 subject to b = Af . (1)<br />

We need to check that if the problem (1) has a<br />

solution, the solution is unique. For given matrix<br />

A, spark(A) is the smallest number of columns<br />

that are linearly dependent. Using this concept,<br />

we get a condition of uniqueness. Let x0 be a ksparse<br />

N-dimensional vector, let A be a matrix of<br />

M × N, and let y = Ax0. If k < spark(A)<br />

2 , then x0<br />

is a unique solution of problem (1). Conversely,<br />

if k ≥ spark(A)<br />

2 , then (1) does not have x0 as<br />

its unique solution. Since the decoder is welldefined<br />

for small k, we need an efficient reconstruction<br />

algorithm. Unfortunately, the problem<br />

(1) is combinatorial problem and NP-hard in general.<br />

Essentially two approaches have mainly been<br />

pursued: greedy algorithm and convex relaxation.<br />

We will introduce greedy algorithms and convex<br />

relaxation for solving (1).<br />

2. Greedy Algorithm<br />

A greedy algorithm computes the support of signal<br />

iteratively, at each step finding one or more<br />

new elements and subtracting their contribution<br />

from the measurement vector. Examples include<br />

Matching Pursuit (MP), Orthogonal Matching<br />

Pursuit (OMP), stagewise OMP, regularised OMP,<br />

weak OMP. We introduce MP and OMP here.<br />

In 1993, Matching Pursuit is proposed by<br />

S Mallat and Z Zhang [17]. Matching Pursuit is<br />

an algorithm that decomposes any signal into a<br />

linear expansion of atoms that are selected from<br />

a redundant dictionary. Let ai be i-th column of<br />

A and xi be i-th component of x. Assume that<br />

||ai||2 = 1 for all i. Equation Ax = b is equivalent to<br />

b = x1a1 + ···+ xNaN. We want to compute a linear<br />

expansion of b over a set {ai : i = 1, 2, ..., N} and<br />

their coefficients are sparse. The idea of Matching<br />

Pursuit is choosing column of A, in order to best<br />

match its inner product structures. For a signal f ,<br />

f can be decomposed to<br />

f = 〈 f , ai〉ai + Rf ,<br />

where Rf is the residual vector. Clearly, ai is<br />

orthogonal to Rf . So,<br />

|| f || 2<br />

2 = |〈 f , ai〉| 2 + ||Rf || 2<br />

2<br />

by Pythagoras theorem. We have to choose ai such<br />

that |〈 f , ai〉| is maximum in order to minimise ||Rf ||.<br />

Using this idea, we iteratively choose the column<br />

of A that has highest absolute inner product with<br />

current residual vector ri = b − Axi and inner product<br />

of selected column aj is added to coefficient xj.<br />

Orthogonal Matching Pursuit [6, 20] is improved<br />

Matching Pursuit by orthogonalising the<br />

direct projection with a Gram–Schmidt procedure.<br />

OMP algorithm iteratively selects the column of<br />

A in the same way like MP. The difference is<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 1


2<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

that b (not ri) is matched by orthogonal projection<br />

with columns of A selected in this step and in<br />

previous steps. Let Λk be columns of A chosen<br />

until k steps. Orthogonal projection of b with<br />

Λk is AΛk (A∗ Λk AΛk )−1 A ∗ Λk b and xk is (A ∗ Λk AΛk )−1 A ∗ Λk b,<br />

where AΛk is the column sub-matrix of A corresponding<br />

to Λk. Clearly, rk+1 is orthogonal to Λk.<br />

Thus, the resulting Orthogonal Matching Pursuit<br />

converges with a finite number of iterations less<br />

than rank A.<br />

In 2003, it was proved that assuming that<br />

1<br />

||x||0 < 0.5(1 + spark(A) ), OMP (and MP) are guaranteed<br />

to find the sparsest solution in [8]. In 2007,<br />

J Tropp and A Gilbert proved in [9] that assuming<br />

that A is Gaussian, for δ ∈ (0, 0.36) and M ≥<br />

Ck ln(N/δ), OMP can reconstruct the sparse signal<br />

with probability exceeding 1 − 2δ. Similar result<br />

holds when A is Bernoulli and M ≥ Ck2 ln(N/δ).<br />

MP and OMP are fast and easy to implement.<br />

But they do not work when there are<br />

noisy measurements. They work for Gaussian<br />

and Bernoulli measurement matrices but it is not<br />

known whether they succeed in the important<br />

class of partial Fourier measurement matrices.<br />

3. ℓ1 Relaxation<br />

The ℓ1 minimisation approach considers the solution<br />

of<br />

min || f ||1 subject to b = Af . (2)<br />

This is a convex optimisation problem and can<br />

be seen as a convex relaxation of (1). In the realvalued<br />

case, (2) is casted by a linear program<br />

and in the complex-valued case, it is casted by a<br />

second order cone program. Of course, we hope<br />

that the solution of (2) coincides with the solution<br />

of (1). Here, we provide an intuitive explanation<br />

to expect that the use of (2) will indeed promote<br />

sparsity. Suppose dimension of signal f is 2 and<br />

dimension of measurement vector b is 1. Except<br />

for situations where ker A is parallel to one of faces<br />

of the poly type {x : ||x||1 = 1}, there is a unique<br />

solution of (2), which is sparse solution. Of course,<br />

for p < 1, when the regulariser of (1) is changed by<br />

||f ||p, there is also a unique sparse solution. Since<br />

|| · ||p is neither norm nor convex for p < 1, that<br />

problem is hard to solve.<br />

The use of ℓ1 minimisation appears already<br />

in the PhD thesis of B Logan in connection<br />

with sparse frequency estimation, where he observed<br />

that ℓ1 minimisation may recover exactly<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Fig. 1. The solution of ℓp (quasi-)norm minimisation by one<br />

dimensional subspace for p = 1, 2, ∞ and 1 2 .<br />

a frequency sparse signal from undersampled<br />

data provided the sparsity is small. Donoho and<br />

B Logan provide the earliest theoretical work on<br />

sparse recovery using ℓ1 minimisation. It is found<br />

in 1990 that the idea to recover sparse Fourier<br />

spectra from undersampled non-equispace samples.<br />

In statics, use of ℓ1 minimisation and related<br />

methods was popularised with the work (LASSO)<br />

of Tibshirani. In image processing, the use of<br />

total variation minimisation, which is connected<br />

to ℓ1 minimisation, appears in the work of Rudin,<br />

Osher and Fatemi.<br />

Many people provided the condition to recover<br />

sparse solution by ℓ1 minimisation adopting<br />

various contents. D Donoho and X Hou provided<br />

that condition using the content mutual coherence.<br />

Mutual coherence of A assuming that the<br />

columns of A are normalised is given by<br />

µ(A) = max<br />

1≤i


matrix A is the smallest number satisfying<br />

(1 − δk)||z|| 2<br />

2<br />

2 ≤ ||Az||2 2 ≤ (1 + δk)||z|| 2<br />

for all k-sparse vector z. A matrix A is said to<br />

satisfy the Restricted Isometry Property (RIP) of<br />

order k with constant δk if δk ∈ (0, 1). In contrast<br />

to the NSP, the RIP is not necessary condition<br />

for sparse recovery by ℓ1. Many people proposed<br />

a sufficient condition of exact sparse ℓ1-recovery<br />

using the concept RIP. E Candés, M Rudelson,<br />

T Tao and R Vershynin first note the following<br />

fact in [3].<br />

Assume A satisfies the RIP of order 3k and<br />

order 4k with δ3k + 3δ4k < 2. Let f ∈ CN and b = Af ,<br />

and f ∗ be a k-sparse solution of (1). Then, f ∗ is the<br />

unique solution of (2).<br />

E Candés provided in [2] that sparse recovery<br />

using ℓ1 is guaranteed as δ2k < √ 2 − 1. The<br />

sufficient condition was improved to δ2k < 2<br />

√ in<br />

2+3<br />

[16]. In 2010, S Foucart proved in [15] that every<br />

sparse vector can be recovered by ℓ1 if δ2k < 3<br />

4+ √ 6 .<br />

E Candés and T Tao also proposed another sufficient<br />

condition on the RIP adopting the concept<br />

restricted orthogonality constants in [4]. The k, k ′ -<br />

restricted orthogonality constants θk,k ′ of a matrix<br />

A defines the smallest number such that<br />

|〈Ax, Ay〉| ≤ θk,k ′||x||2||y||2<br />

holds for all k-sparse vector x and k ′ -sparse vector<br />

y with disjoint supports. They gave the sufficient<br />

condition δk + θk,k + θk,2k < 1 on the RIP. This<br />

condition was later improved to δ1.5k + θk,1.5k < 1<br />

in [18].<br />

Many people deal with RIP of Gaussian matrix,<br />

Bernoulli matrix and partial Fourier matrix.<br />

Gaussian matrix is that the entries of it are chosen<br />

as i.i.d. (independent and identically distributed)<br />

Gaussian random variables with expectation 0<br />

. Similarly, Bernoulli matrix is<br />

1<br />

that the entry of it takes the value √M or − 1<br />

√<br />

M<br />

with equal probability 1<br />

2 . Partial Fourier matrix<br />

is submatrix of discrete Fourier transform matrix<br />

consisting of random rows. R Baraniuk, M Davenport,<br />

R DeVore, and M Wakin proved the following<br />

statement.<br />

Let A ∈ RM×N be a Gaussian or Bernoulli<br />

matrix. For given 0 <br />

1, k > 2. Thus, if A is a partial Fourier matrix and<br />

M satisfies the preceeding condition, the problem<br />

(1) is equivalent to its convex relaxation (2) for all<br />

k-sparse signal with high probability.<br />

4. Application<br />

Compressive sensing can be used in all applications<br />

where the task is the reconstruction of<br />

a signal or an image from linear measurement.<br />

There should be reason to believe that the signal<br />

is sparse in a suitable basis. At first, we consider<br />

image restoration and image inpainting. We consider<br />

y = Hu + ɛ where y is the observed image,<br />

u is the original image, ɛ is the noise, H is the<br />

degrading operator (e.g. convolution with some<br />

kernel). The image restoration is the process to<br />

recover original image u using y and H. Image<br />

inpainting is the process of recover missing pixels<br />

of given image. For given image x, let Λ be the<br />

index set of all available data. Since the data for<br />

the indices in Λ c is not believed, we can only<br />

use data PΛx for the indices in Λ, where PΛ, is<br />

called “row selctor”, is a matrix which comprises<br />

a subset of the rows for the indices in Λ of an<br />

identity matrix. Mixing image restoration problem<br />

and image inpainting problem, we want to seek<br />

original image u using the data PΛy = PΛ(Hu + ɛ).<br />

Actually, PΛ is M×N matrix for some M < N. The<br />

sparsity prior of images in tight frame has been<br />

used in many image restoration and inpainting<br />

problem. Assume that ɛ is 0. We set the problem<br />

following<br />

min ||Wu||0 subject to PΛHu = PΛy, (3)<br />

u<br />

where W is an tight frame. Problem (3) is casted<br />

by unconstrained problem<br />

min ||Wu||0 +<br />

u 1<br />

2 ||PΛHu − PΛy|| 2<br />

2 .<br />

H Ji, Z Shen and Y Xu get good results solving<br />

convex relaxation of this problem. Figure 2 is a<br />

result by H Ji, Z Shen and Y Xu.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 3


4<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Fig. 2. (a) Blurred image by out of focus kernel, (b) Blurred and<br />

scratched image, (c) Reconstructed image.<br />

Second application is Magnetic Resonance<br />

Imaging (MRI). MRI is a medical imaging technique<br />

used in radiology to visualise detailed internal<br />

structures. In MRI, samples are collected<br />

directly in Fourier frequency domain (k-space) of<br />

object. The scan time in MRI is proportional to the<br />

number of Fourier coefficients. Using compressive<br />

sensing technique, we can reduce the number<br />

of samples and scan time. Real MR images are<br />

known to be sparse in discrete cosine transform<br />

(DCT) and wavelet transform. We write this problem<br />

in the form,<br />

min ||f ||0 subject to RF Wf = y,<br />

f<br />

where F is Fourier transform matrix, R is random<br />

row selector, W is a DCT matrix or wavelet<br />

transform matrix, u = Wf is reconstruction image.<br />

Several people have also observed that it<br />

is often useful to include Total Variation |∇·| =<br />

� �<br />

|∇x1 ·|2 + |∇x2 ·|2 . Using these facts, T Goldstein<br />

and S Osher solve the problem,<br />

min<br />

u ||Wu||1 + |∇u| subject to RF f = y, (4)<br />

where W is a haar wavelet transform matrix.<br />

Figure 3 is a result solving the problem (4).<br />

Further applications include analogue to digital<br />

conversion, single-pixel imaging, data compression,<br />

astronomical signal, geophysical data<br />

analysis and compressive radar imaging. The<br />

point of compressive sensing is that even though<br />

the amount of data is very small, we can have<br />

most of the information contained in the object.<br />

Thus, compressive sensing has many potential<br />

applications in various fields.<br />

Fig. 3. Left: original image, middle: linear reconstruction using<br />

30% of the k-space data, right: compressive sensing reconstruction<br />

using same data of middle.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

References<br />

[1] D. Donoho and X. Huo, Uncertainty principles and<br />

ideal atomic decomposition, IEEE Trans. Inform.<br />

Theory 47 (2001).<br />

[2] E. Candés, The restricted isometry property and its<br />

implications for compressive sensing, C. R. Acad.<br />

Sci. Paris S’er. I Math. 346 (2008).<br />

[3] E. Candés, M. Rudelson, T. Tao and R. Vershynin,<br />

Error correction via linear programming, Proc. 46th<br />

Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer<br />

Science, IEEE (2005).<br />

[4] E. Candés and T. Tao, Decoding by linear programing,<br />

IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory 51 (2005).<br />

[5] E. Candés and T. Tao, Near-optimal signal recovery<br />

from random projections: universal encoding<br />

strategies?, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory 52 (2006).<br />

[6] G. Davis, S. Mallat and Z. Zhang, Adaptive timefrequency<br />

decompositions, SPIE Journal of Optical<br />

Engineering 33 (1994).<br />

[7] H. Ji, Z. Shen and Y. Xu, Wavelet frame based<br />

image restoration with missing/damaged pixels,<br />

East Asia Journal on Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong> 1 (2011).<br />

[8] J. Tropp, Greed is good: Algorithmic results for<br />

sparse approximation, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory<br />

50 (2004).<br />

[9] J. Tropp and A. Gilbert, Signal recovery from<br />

random measurements via orthogonal matching<br />

pursuit, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory 53 (2007).<br />

[10] M. Rudelson and R. Vershynin, On sparse reconstruction<br />

from Fourier and Gaussian measurements,<br />

Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 61 (2008).<br />

[11] M. Lustig, D. Donoho and J. Pauly, Sparse MRI:<br />

The application of compressed sensing for rapid<br />

MR imaging, Magn. Reson. Med. 58 (2007).<br />

[12] R. Baraniuk, Compressive sensing, IEEE Signal<br />

Processing Magazine 24 (2007).<br />

[13] R. Baraniuk, M. Davenport, R. DeVore and M.<br />

Wakin, A simple proof of the restricted isometry<br />

property for random matrices, Constr. Approx. 28<br />

(2008).<br />

[14] R. Gribonval and M. Nielsen, Sparse representations<br />

in unions of bases, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory<br />

49 (2003).<br />

[15] S. Foucart A note on guaranteed sparse recovery<br />

via ℓ1-minimization, Appl. Comput. Harmon. Anal.<br />

29 (2010).<br />

[16] S. Foucart and M. Lai, Sparsest solutions of underdetermined<br />

linear systems via ℓq-minimization for<br />

0 < q ≤ 1, Appl. Comput. Harmon. Anal. 26 (2009).<br />

[17] S. Mallat and Z. Zhang, Matching pursuits with<br />

time-frequency dictionaries, IEEE Trans. Signal<br />

Process (1993).<br />

4


[18] T. Cai, G. Xu and J. Zhang, On recovery of sparse<br />

signals via ℓ1 minimization, IEEE Trans. Inform.<br />

Theory 55 (2009).<br />

[19] T. Goldstein and S. Osher, The split Bregman<br />

method for L1-Regularized problems, SIAM J.<br />

Imaging. Sci. 2 (2009).<br />

[20] Y. Pati, R. Rezaiifar and P. Krishnaprasad, Orthogonal<br />

matching pursuit: Recursive function approximation<br />

with applications to wavelet decomposition,<br />

in Proc. 27th Asilomar Conference on Signals,<br />

Myungjoo Kang<br />

Seoul National University, Korea<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

5<br />

Systems and Computers, ed. A. Singh, (IEEE Computer<br />

Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, 1993).<br />

[21] M. Davenport, M. Duarte, Y. Eldar and G. Kutyniok,<br />

Introduction to compressed sensing, Chapter<br />

in Compressed Sensing: Theory and Applications<br />

(Cambridge University Press, 2011).<br />

[22] M. Fornasier and H. Rauhut, Compressive sensing,<br />

Chapter in Part 2 of the Handbook of Mathematical<br />

Methods in Imaging (Springer, 2011).<br />

Myungjoo Kang received the BS degree in mathematics from Seoul National<br />

University, Seoul, Korea, and the PhD degree in mathematics from the University<br />

of California, Los Angeles, in 1996. He was with the Electrical and Computer<br />

Engineering Department from the University of California, San Diego, as a<br />

Postdoctoral Researcher, from 1996–2000. He has been an Assistant Professor<br />

at the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Seoul National University, from<br />

2003–2007, and an Associate Professor, from 2008–present. His research interests<br />

are in mathematical image processing as well as numerical schemes and<br />

computational fluid dynamics.<br />

Myeongmin Kang<br />

Seoul National University, Korea<br />

Translated from the <strong>Newsletter</strong> of Korean Mathematical<br />

Society 138 (2011) 2 –7<br />

Myeongmin Kang received the BS degree in mathematics and computer science<br />

from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 2008, and she has been an<br />

integrated M/PhD student at the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Seoul<br />

National University, from 2008–present. Her research interests are in mathematical<br />

image processing such as compressive sensing.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 5


6<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Mathematical Billiards<br />

This Letter presents some historical notes and<br />

some very elementary notions of the mathematical<br />

theory of billiards. We give the most interesting<br />

and popular applications of the theory.<br />

1. Introduction<br />

A billiard is a dynamical system in which a<br />

particle alternates between motion in a straight<br />

line and specular reflections from a boundary,<br />

i.e. the angle of incidence equals the angle of<br />

reflection. When the particle hits the boundary<br />

it reflects from it without loss of speed. Billiard<br />

dynamical systems are Hamiltonian idealisations<br />

of the game of billiards, but where the region<br />

contained by the boundary can have shapes other<br />

than rectangular and even be multidimensional.<br />

In Fig. 1 some examples of mathematical billiard<br />

tables and trajectories are shown.<br />

Dynamical billiards may also be studied on<br />

non-Euclidean geometries; indeed, the very first<br />

studies of billiards established their ergodic motion<br />

on surfaces of constant negative curvature.<br />

The study of billiards which are kept out of a<br />

region, rather than being kept in a region, is<br />

known as outer billiard theory.<br />

Many interesting problems can arise in the detailed<br />

study of billiards trajectories. For example,<br />

any smooth plane convex set has at least two<br />

double normals, so there are always two distinct<br />

“to and from” paths for any smoothly curved<br />

table. Analysis of billiards path can involve sophisticated<br />

use of ergodic theory and dynamical<br />

systems.<br />

One can also consider billiard paths on polygonal<br />

billiard tables. The only closed billiard path<br />

of a single circuit in an acute triangle is the pedal<br />

triangle. There are an infinite number of multiplecircuit<br />

paths, but all segments are parallel to the<br />

sides of the pedal triangle. There exists a closed<br />

billiard path inside a cyclic quadrilateral if its<br />

circum centre lies inside the quadrilateral.<br />

G D Birkhoff was first to consider billiards<br />

systematically as models for problems of classical<br />

mechanics. Birkhoff considered billiards only in<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Mathematical Billiards<br />

U A Rozikov<br />

Fig. 1. Examples of billiard tables and trajectories<br />

Fig. 1. Examples of billiard tables and trajectories<br />

smooth convex domains; he did not think about<br />

billiards in polygons, or in non-convex domains.<br />

Mathematical theory of chaotic billiards was<br />

born in 1970 when Ya Sinai published his seminal<br />

paper [8]. During these years it grew and<br />

developed at a remarkable speed, and became<br />

a well-established and an important area within<br />

the modern theory of dynamical systems and<br />

statistical mechanics.<br />

Now a mathematical billiard is a popular object<br />

of study: a MathSciNet and Google search<br />

shows that about 2000 publications devoted to billiards<br />

have appeared in mathematical and physical<br />

literatures over the years. These literatures<br />

include research papers as well as monographs,<br />

textbooks, and popular literature.<br />

The book [2] is written in an accessible manner,<br />

and touch upon a broad variety of questions.<br />

This book can undoubtedly provide pleasurable<br />

and instructive reading for any mathematician<br />

or physicist interested in billiards, dynamical<br />

1


systems, ergodic theory, mechanics, geometry,<br />

partial differential equations and mathematical<br />

foundations of statistical mechanics. A shorter<br />

related “popularisation” text on the same subject<br />

is [3]. For an advanced, follow-up, graduate/research<br />

level book, refer to the book [6].<br />

In [2] the authors use a large number of very<br />

nice and interesting problems from mathematics<br />

and physics to illustrate the multiple facets and<br />

applications of billiards. The main theme of the<br />

book is the study of the behaviour of billiard<br />

trajectories in various domains (for instance, existence<br />

of periodic trajectories), the relationships between<br />

this behaviour and the topology/geometry<br />

of the domain, and the conclusions that can be<br />

inferred from such results in geometry, mechanics<br />

and statistical physics. This book also contains<br />

some history of the game of billiards and development<br />

of the mathematical interest in billiards,<br />

with some unexpected problems designed to excite<br />

the interest of high school students: for instance,<br />

a billiard model can be used to solve some<br />

problems about measuring the amount of water<br />

in vessels (which we present in the next section).<br />

Moreover, the book [2] discusses the billiards in<br />

a disc and in an ellipse. Also the mechanical<br />

system “gas of absolutely rigid spheres” and its<br />

relations with billiards are studied. These problems<br />

lead to billiards in higher-dimensional space.<br />

Moreover, billiards in polygons and polyhedra are<br />

studied. In many cases the study of billiards in<br />

polygons reduces to the study of the trajectories<br />

of a point moving on a two-dimensional surface<br />

with two or more “holes”. Such surfaces arise in<br />

classical mechanics when one considers problems<br />

connected with integrable and nearly integrable<br />

dynamical systems. The problem of the existence<br />

of periodic trajectories in polygons and polyhedra<br />

is studied.<br />

An introduction to problems related with billiards<br />

for a more advanced reader can be found<br />

in Chapter 6 of [1]. The next level is represented<br />

in the book [10]. The book [4] contains a fairly<br />

detailed modern exposition of the theory of convex<br />

billiards and twist maps. A serious but still<br />

accessible exposition of the theory of parabolic billiards<br />

in its modern state is contained in a survey<br />

paper [7]. The volume [9] contains rich material<br />

on hyperbolic billiards and related questions.<br />

Notable billiard tables are:<br />

Hadamard’s billiards. Hadamard’s billiards con-<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

2<br />

cern the motion of a free point particle on a<br />

surface of constant negative curvature, in particular,<br />

the simplest compact Riemann surface with<br />

negative curvature, a surface of genus 2 (a twoholed<br />

donut). The model is exactly solvable, and<br />

is given by the geodesic flow on the surface.<br />

It is the earliest example of deterministic chaos<br />

ever studied, having been introduced by Jacques<br />

Hadamard in 1898.<br />

Artin’s billiards. Artin’s billiards concern the<br />

free motion of a point particle on a surface of<br />

constant negative curvature, in particular, the<br />

simplest non-compact Riemann surface, a surface<br />

with one cusp. The billiards are notable in being<br />

exactly solvable, and being not only ergodic but<br />

also strongly mixing. Thus they are an example<br />

of an Anosov system. Artin billiards were first<br />

studied by Emil Artin in 1924.<br />

Sinai’s billiards. The table of the Sinai billiard<br />

is a square with a disk removed from its centre;<br />

the table is flat, having no curvature. The<br />

billiard arises from studying the behaviour of<br />

two interacting disks bouncing inside a square,<br />

reflecting off the boundaries of the square and<br />

off each other. By eliminating the centre of mass<br />

as a configuration variable, the dynamics of two<br />

interacting disks reduces to the dynamics in the<br />

Sinai billiard.<br />

The billiard was introduced by Ya Sinai as<br />

an example of an interacting Hamiltonian system<br />

that displays physical thermodynamic properties:<br />

it is ergodic and has a positive Lyapunov exponent.<br />

As a model of a classical gas, the Sinai<br />

billiard is sometimes called the Lorentz gas.<br />

Sinai’s great achievement with this model was<br />

to show that the classical Boltzmann–Gibbs ensemble<br />

for an ideal gas is essentially the maximally<br />

chaotic Hadamard billiards.<br />

For more historical notes on mathematical billiards<br />

see [5]. In the next sections we shall give<br />

some elementary applications of mathematical<br />

billiards.<br />

2. Pouring Problems<br />

Problem 1. There are two vessels with capacities 7<br />

and 11 litres and there is a greater of a flank filled<br />

with water. How to measure by these vessels exactly 1<br />

litre of water?<br />

Solution. In the problem the billiard table can<br />

be considered as a parallelogram (see Fig. 2).<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 7


8<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

33<br />

22<br />

55<br />

44<br />

7<br />

6<br />

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0<br />

7<br />

6<br />

2 3<br />

7 8 9 10 11<br />

1 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11<br />

11<br />

00<br />

00 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 11<br />

Fig. 2. The trajectory separating 1 litre of water<br />

The sides of the table must be 7 and 11.<br />

Following the trajectory shown in Fig. 2 we can<br />

conclude the following:<br />

1. The ball starts its trajectory at the point (0, 0)<br />

(the left bottom vertex). This position of the<br />

ball means that both vessels are empty.<br />

2. In the next position it goes to (0, 11) this<br />

means the big vessel is full and the small<br />

vessel is empty.<br />

3. Then it goes to the position (7, 4) which<br />

means that water has been poured from the<br />

large vessel to the small one.<br />

4. The next position (0, 4) corresponds to the act<br />

that the small vessel has been poured out.<br />

We should continue to follow the trajectory until<br />

one of the vessels will contain exactly 1 litre of water.<br />

The Fig. 2 shows that in the 8th step the large<br />

vessel contains exactly 1 litre. Then the described<br />

algorithm gives the solution of the problem.<br />

Remark. If one first directs the ball to point<br />

(7, 0) (the left top vertex) then to get 1 litre, one<br />

has to do 25 steps. It is easy to check that by the<br />

mathematical billiard of Fig. 2 one can measure i<br />

litre of water for any i = 1, 2, ..., 11. Just continue<br />

the trajectory until to a point with a coordinate<br />

equal to i.<br />

Problem 2. There is a vessel with capacity 8, which<br />

is full of water. There are two empty vessels with<br />

capacities 3 and 5 litres. How to pour the water in two<br />

greater vessels equally (i.e. both vessels must contain<br />

exactly 4 litres of water)?<br />

Solution. The table for this problem is a 3 × 5<br />

parallelogram (see Fig. 3).<br />

The large diagonal of the parallelogram, which<br />

corresponds to the vessel with capacity 8, is<br />

divided into 8 partes by the inclined straight<br />

lines. Following the trajectory, shown in Fig. 3 we<br />

should go until it is separated into 4 litres. The<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

1<br />

2<br />

3<br />

0<br />

0<br />

0 0 1 2 3 5 0<br />

0 1 2 3 4 5<br />

3<br />

8 7 6 5 4 3<br />

8 7 6 5 4<br />

Fig. 3. The trajectory dividing 8 litres to two 4 litres<br />

trajectory is<br />

(0, 0, 8) → (0, 5, 3) → (3, 2, 3) → (0, 2, 6)<br />

→ (2, 0, 6) → (2, 5, 1) → (3, 4, 1) → (0, 4, 4).<br />

This trajectory gives the algorithm of the solution.<br />

Remark. If two smaller vessels have coprime<br />

(relatively prime) capacities (i.e. the capacity (volume)<br />

numbers do not have a common divisor<br />

� 1) and the biggest vessel has a capacity larger<br />

(or equal) than the sum of the capacities of the<br />

smaller vessels then using these three vessels one<br />

can measure water with litres: from 1 until the<br />

capacity of the mid vessel. For example, if there<br />

are three vessels with capacities 12, 13 and 26<br />

respectively. Then one can measure l litre of water<br />

for any l ∈{1, 2, ..., 13}.<br />

3. Billiard in the Circle<br />

The circle enjoys rotational symmetry, and a billiard<br />

trajectory is completely determined by the<br />

angle α made with the circle. This angle remains<br />

the same after each reflection. Each consecutive<br />

impact point is obtained from the previous one<br />

by a circle rotation through angle θ = 2α.<br />

If θ = 2πp<br />

q , then every billiard orbit is q-periodic<br />

and makes p turns about the circle; one says that<br />

the rotation number of such an orbit is p<br />

q . If θ is<br />

not a rational multiple of π, then every orbit is<br />

infinite. The first result on π-irrational rotations<br />

of the circle is due to Jacobi. Denote the circle<br />

rotation through angle θ by Tθ.<br />

The following theorem is well known.<br />

Theorem 1. If θ is π-irrational, then the Tθ-orbit<br />

of every point is dense. In other words, every interval<br />

contains points of this orbit.<br />

Corollary. If θ is π-irrational, then the Tθ-orbit has<br />

infinitely many points in any arc ∆ of the circle.<br />

Let us study the sequence xn = x + nθ mod 2π<br />

with π-irrational θ. If θ = 2πp<br />

q , this sequence consists<br />

of q elements which are distributed in the<br />

1<br />

2<br />

3<br />

2<br />

1<br />

0<br />

3


circle very regularly. Should one expect a similar<br />

regular distribution for π-irrational θ?<br />

The adequate notion is that of equidistribution<br />

(or uniform distribution). Given an arc I, let k(n)<br />

be the number of terms in the sequence x0, ..., xn−1<br />

that lie in I. The sequence is called equidistributed<br />

on the circle if<br />

k(n) |I|<br />

lim =<br />

n→∞ n 2π ,<br />

for every I.<br />

The next theorem is due to Kronecker and<br />

Weyl; it implies Theorem 1.<br />

Theorem 2. If θ is π-irrational, then the sequence<br />

xn = x + nθ mod 2π is equidistributed on the circle.<br />

Now we shall give some applications of<br />

Theorems 1 and 2.<br />

Problem 3. Distribution of first digits. Consider<br />

the sequence<br />

1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, ...<br />

consisting of consecutive powers of 2.<br />

Can a power of 2 start with 2012?<br />

Is a term in this sequence more likely to start with<br />

3or4?<br />

Solution. Let us consider the second question:<br />

2 n has the first digit k if, for some non-negative<br />

integer q, one has<br />

k10 q ≤ 2 n < (k + 1)10 q .<br />

Take logarithm base 10:<br />

log k + q ≤ n log 2 < log (k + 1) + q. (1)<br />

Since q is of no concern to us, let us consider<br />

fractional parts of the numbers involved. Denote<br />

by {x} the fractional part of the real number x.<br />

Inequalities (1) mean that {n log 2} belongs to the<br />

interval I = [log k, log (k + 1)). Note that log 2 is an<br />

irrational number. Thus by Theorem 1 there is a<br />

number n0 such that 2 n0 = k.... Using Theorem 2,<br />

we obtain the following result.<br />

Corollary. The probability p(k) for a power of 2 to<br />

start with digit k equals log (k + 1) − log k.<br />

The values of these probabilities are approximately<br />

as follows:<br />

p(1) = 0.301, p(2) = 0.176, p(3) = 0.125,<br />

p(4) = 0.097, p(5) = 0.079, p(6) = 0.067,<br />

p(7) = 0.058, p(8) = 0.051, p(9) = 0.046.<br />

We see that p(k) monotonically decreases with<br />

k; in particular, 1 is about 6 times as likely to be<br />

the first digit as 9.<br />

3 3<br />

4<br />

4<br />

2 2<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

4<br />

Fig. 4. Billiard in the circle<br />

1<br />

10−2012 10−2012 Exercise. (a) What is the distribution of the first<br />

digits in the sequence 2nC where C is a constant?<br />

(b) Find the probability that the first m digits<br />

of a power of 2 is a given combination k1k2...km.<br />

(c) Investigate similar questions for powers of<br />

other numbers.<br />

(d) Prove that if p is such that p � 10q (for some<br />

q = 1, 2, ...) then the sequence p, p2 , p3 , ... has a<br />

term with the first m digits is a given combination<br />

k1k2...km.<br />

Remark. Surprisingly, many “real life” sequences<br />

enjoy a similar distribution of first digits!<br />

This was first noted in 1881 in a 2-page article<br />

by American astronomer S Newcomb. This article<br />

opens as follows: “That the ten digits do not<br />

occur with equal frequency must be evident to<br />

anyone making much use of logarithmic tables,<br />

and noticing how much faster the first pages wear<br />

out than the last ones. The first significant figure<br />

is often 1 than any other digit, and the frequency<br />

diminishes up to 9.”<br />

Problem 4. Is there a natural number n such that<br />

sin n < 10−2012 ?<br />

Solution. The answer is “exists”! To prove this<br />

consider a billiard on a circle with radius 1, which<br />

corresponds to the rotation number θ = 1 radian<br />

(see Fig. 3). Then sequence sin 0, sin 1, sin 2, ... on<br />

[−1, 1] corresponds to the trajectory 0, 1, 2, ... of the<br />

billiard with the starting point 0. Since 1 radian is<br />

π-irrational, by Theorem 1 we get the result. Note<br />

that the question is trivial if one considers x ∈ R<br />

instead of n = 1, 2, ....<br />

References<br />

[1] I. P. Cornfeld, S. V. Fomin and Ya. G. Sinai, Ergodic<br />

Theory (Springer-Verlag, 1982).<br />

1<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 9


10<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

[2] G. Galperin and A. Zemlyakov, Mathematical Billiards<br />

(Nauka, Moscow, 1990) (in Russian).<br />

[3] G. A. Galperin and N. I. Chernov, Billiards and<br />

Chaos (Znanie, Moscow, 1991) (in Russian).<br />

[4] A. B. Katok and B. Hasselblatt, Introduction to the<br />

Modern Theory of Dynamical Systems (Cambridge<br />

University Press, 1995).<br />

[5] A. B. Katok, Billiard Table as a Mathematician’s Playground,<br />

Surveys in Modern <strong>Mathematics</strong> (Cambridge<br />

University Press, 2005), pp. 216–242.<br />

[6] V. V. Kozlov and D. V. Treshchev, Billiards: A Genetic<br />

Introduction to the Dynamics of Systems with Impacts,<br />

Translations of Mathematical Monographs,<br />

Vol. 89 (American Mathematical Society, 1991).<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

[7] H. Masur and S. Tabachnikov, Rational Billiards and<br />

Flat Structures, Handbook in Dynamical Systems,<br />

Vol. 1A (Elsevier, 2002), pp. 1015–1089.<br />

[8] Ya. G. Sinai, Dynamical systems with elastic reflections,<br />

Russian Math. Surv. 25 (1970) 137–191.<br />

[9] D. Szász (Editor), Hard Ball Systems and the Lorentz<br />

Gas (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2000). (Encyclopedia<br />

of Mathematical Sciences, 101, Mathematical<br />

Physics, II.)<br />

[10] S. Tabachnikov, Billiards, Societe Mathematique de<br />

France, “Panoramas et Syntheses,” No. 1 (1995).<br />

Utkir Rozikov<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Information Technologies<br />

U A Rozikov 29, Do’rmon Yo’li str.<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Information Technologies, Uzbekistan<br />

100125, Tashkent, Uzbekistan<br />

rozikovu@yandex.ru<br />

email: rozikovu@yandex.ru<br />

U A Rozikov is a professor at the Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Information Technologies,<br />

Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He graduated from the Samarkand State University in 1993. He<br />

obtained PhD in 1995 and Doctor of Sciences in physics and mathematics (2001) from the<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Tashkent. Professor Rozikov is known for his works on the theory of<br />

Gibbs measures of models on trees of statistical mechanics. He developed a contour method<br />

to study the models on trees and described complete set of periodic Gibbs measures. He<br />

and his coworkers obtained some important results in non-Archimedean theory of phase<br />

transitions and dynamical systems, non-Volterra quadratic operators, and a quadratic operator<br />

which connects phases of the models of statistical mechanics with models of genetics.<br />

He had been invited to several leading universities and research centres in the UK, France,<br />

Italy, Germany, Spain, etc., and he has published about 80 papers in front-line journals.<br />

5


Indo–French Cooperation<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

1<br />

Indo–French Cooperation in <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Abstract. Links between mathematicians from India and<br />

France are old, strong and fruitful. We present a short<br />

survey of these relations. We start with a brief overview<br />

of the mathematical heritage of India. The stay of<br />

A Weil as a Professor in Aligarh Muslim University<br />

from 1930 to 1931 was the first outstanding event in<br />

the Franco–Indian relationship. A few years later, the<br />

French Jesuit Father Racine came to India where he<br />

played a major role in the development of mathematics<br />

in this country, as well as in its relations with French<br />

mathematicians. Now, there are many collaborations<br />

and exchanges of visitors between both countries. This<br />

is one of the most flourishing bilateral cooperations<br />

and plays a unique role both for French and Indian<br />

mathematicians.<br />

1. Indian Tradition in <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> has been studied in India since ancient<br />

times. There are many references on the<br />

subject; among the reliable ones are the books of<br />

G R Kaye [5] in 1915, C N Srinivasiengar [13]<br />

in 1967, A K Bag [1] in 1979 and A Weil [19]<br />

in 1984. References on the more recent period<br />

are the papers by R Narasimhan [8] in 1991,<br />

V S Varadarajan [14] in 1998, M S Raghunathan<br />

[10] in 2003 and K Plofker in 2009.<br />

According to the Hindu tradition, the most<br />

important work on astronomy, Surya Siddhānta, is<br />

supposed to have been written more than two<br />

thousand years ago. However, it seems more<br />

likely that this treatise is only about 1200 years<br />

old.<br />

As a matter of fact there is no proof of mathematical<br />

activity in India before 1500 BC. The Indus<br />

civilisation (around 3000 BC) was discovered less<br />

than one century ago, the writings have not yet<br />

been deciphered; there are weights and objects<br />

which seem to be devoted to measure and hence<br />

maybe to a numerical system, but nothing else is<br />

known yet.<br />

The Sulvasūtras (cord manuals) were written<br />

by Baudhāyana, Apastamba and Katyayana not<br />

earlier than between the 8th and the 4th Century<br />

BC.<br />

From 500 to 200 BC, Vedic mathematics continued<br />

to be developed before declining and leaving<br />

place to the mathematics of the Jains: number<br />

Michel Waldschmidt∗ in <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Michel Waldschmidt*<br />

theory, permutations and combinations, binomial<br />

theorem and, as always, astronomy.<br />

A decimal number system existed in India<br />

in the 3rd Century BC, during the time of the<br />

King Ashoka. On the pillars he erected are found<br />

inscriptions in Brahmi with early ancestors of our<br />

numerical decimal system of writing in the socalled<br />

arabic digits. This way of writing would be<br />

an indispensable tool for the later developments<br />

of mathematics in India: it enabled Jain mathematicians<br />

to write out very large numbers by<br />

which they were fascinated.<br />

It is probably between the 2nd and 4th Century<br />

AD that the manuscript Bakhs.h ā l īshould be<br />

dated; it introduces algebraic operations, decimal<br />

notations, zero, quadratic equations, square roots,<br />

indeterminates and the minus sign.<br />

The classical period of mathematics in India<br />

extends from 600 to 1200 AD. The major works are<br />

named Āryabhat.ī y a, Pan¯casiddhāntikā, Āryabhat.ī y a<br />

Bhasya, Mahā Bhāskariya, Brāhmasput.asiddhānta,<br />

P ā t.ī g a n. ita, Gan. itasārasa¯ngraha, Gan. italaka, L ī l ā v a t ī,<br />

Bijagan. ita, and the authors are Āryabhat . a I (476–<br />

550), Varāhamihira (505–587), Bhāskara I (∼600–<br />

∼680), Brahmagupta (598–670), Mahāvīracarya<br />

(∼800 –∼870), Āryabhat . a II (∼920–∼1000), ´Srı.dhara<br />

(∼870–∼930), Bhāskarācārya (Bhāskara II, 1114–<br />

1185).<br />

Mahāvīra, a Jain from the region of Mysore,<br />

one of the few Indian mathematicians of that time<br />

who was not an astronomer, wrote one among the<br />

first courses of arithmetic.<br />

Bhāskara II (also named Bhāskarācārya, or<br />

Professor Bhāskara), belonged to the Ujjain<br />

school, like Varāhamihira and Brahmagupta. His<br />

treatise of astronomy called Siddhānta´siroman. i<br />

(1150) contains chapters on geometry (Lī l ā v a t ī)<br />

and on algebra (Bījagan . ita).<br />

While the mathematical school was declining<br />

in the rest of India, it flourished in Kerala between<br />

the 14th and the 17th Century. After the work on<br />

astronomy and on series by Madhava of Sangamagramma<br />

(1350–1425), the four most important<br />

works on astronomy and mathematics from that<br />

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12<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

period are Tantrasa¯ngraha of Nīlakan. t . ha Somayaji<br />

(1444–1544), Yuktibhasa by Jyesthdeva, Karana Paddhati<br />

by Putamana Somayaij and Sadratnamala<br />

by Sankara Varman. Another Indian mathematician<br />

from the 14th Century is Narayana (∼1340–<br />

∼1400), who studied Fibonacci–like sequences.<br />

One of the main features of the mathematics<br />

from the Kerala School is the geometric treatment<br />

of algebraic problems. An example is the text<br />

Karanamrta written by Citrabhanu in 1530.<br />

In his treatise on astronomy, Madhava used<br />

a series for π and obtained 11 decimal digits,<br />

while Viéte in 1579 could obtain only 9 decimal<br />

digits by computing the perimeter of a polygon<br />

with 393 216 sides. Three centuries before Newton,<br />

Madhava knew the expansions<br />

and<br />

sin x = x − x3 x5 x7<br />

+ − + ···<br />

3! 5! 7!<br />

cos x = 1 − x2 x4 x6<br />

+ − + ···<br />

2! 4! 6!<br />

The invention of infinitesimal calculus in India<br />

was motivated by the predictions of eclipses.<br />

Āryabhat . a I, and later Brahmagupta, used the<br />

concept of instant motion. Bhāskarācārya used<br />

the derivative of the sine function to compute<br />

the angle of the ecliptic. These works were later<br />

pursued by the Kerala school.<br />

One may consider Madhava as one of the<br />

founders of modern analysis.<br />

Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) is a major<br />

character in Indian mathematics. Despite passing<br />

away when he was not yet 33, he left behind<br />

an important work of which the originality is<br />

outstanding.<br />

During his school years his unique subject of<br />

interest was mathematics and he neglected all<br />

other topics. After he obtained a 2nd class place<br />

in the entrance exam at the University of Madras,<br />

which won for him a scholarship to the Government<br />

College of Kumbakonam, he failed his exam<br />

at the end of his first year at the Government<br />

College. In 1903, he acquired a book by G S Carr,<br />

A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong>, which had a strong influence on him<br />

and on his conception of mathematics. This book<br />

is a list of exercises without proofs and Ramanujan<br />

took each of these as a challenge. He devoted<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

his energy to prove all the theoremsa without<br />

any help. The main part of the notebooks [11]<br />

of Ramanujan is written in the same style, with<br />

statements without proofs. One may compare this<br />

with the style of the sutras used by ancient Hindu<br />

mathematicians.<br />

From 1903 to 1914, while he had a hard time<br />

finding a job to support his living expenses,<br />

he wrote in his notebooks some 3254 mathematical<br />

statements. Despite his important results,<br />

he did not get recognition from established<br />

mathematicians.<br />

In 1912, he obtained a position as a clerk in an<br />

office of the Port Trust in Madras. In early 1913,<br />

he received an invitation from G H Hardy to visit<br />

him in Cambridge; the same year, he received a<br />

grant from the University of Madras which was<br />

not large enough to support his journey or stay<br />

in England, but he managed to accept Hardy’s<br />

invitation.<br />

During the five years he spent in Cambridge<br />

he published 21 papers including five joint papers<br />

with Hardy. In 1916, he graduated from Cambridge<br />

University thanks to his memoir on highly<br />

composite numbers. In February 1918, he was<br />

awarded the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal<br />

Society. He was elected Fellow of Trinity College<br />

in October the same year. Shortly afterwards he<br />

became ill — the diagnosis of tuberculosis was the<br />

primary diagnosis when Ramanujan lived, but it<br />

is doubtful that he had tuberculosis. He went back<br />

to India where he passed away on April 26, 1920.<br />

His work is extremely original. According to<br />

Hardy [4], the main contribution of Ramanujan in<br />

algebra was on hypergeometric series (identities<br />

of Dougall–Ramanujan) and Rogers–Ramanujan<br />

continued fractions. The beginning of the circle<br />

method, one of the most powerful tools in analytic<br />

number theory, may be found in Ramanujan’s<br />

notebooks, but it was, at best, only hazily developed<br />

there. It was later developed in his joint<br />

work with Hardy. His conjecture that the tau<br />

function defined by<br />

�<br />

τ(n)x n �<br />

= x (1 − x n ) 24<br />

satisfies<br />

n≥1<br />

n≥1<br />

|τ(p)| ≤2p 11/2<br />

a As pointed out to the author by Bruce Berndt, the total<br />

number of theorems in Carr’s book is 4417, not 6165, a number<br />

promulgated for years because it is not recognised that there<br />

are many gaps, some of them huge, in Carr’s numbering.<br />

2


for any prime number p was proved only in 1974<br />

by P Deligne.<br />

The equation of Ramanujan–Nagell is<br />

x 2 + 7 = 2 n ;<br />

Ramanujan found five solutions in positive<br />

integers<br />

1 2 + 7 = 2 3 , 3 2 + 7 = 2 4 , 5 2 + 7 = 2 5 ,<br />

11 2 + 7 = 2 7 , 181 2 + 7 = 2 15 ,<br />

and conjectured that these are the only ones; this<br />

was proved by T Nagell in 1948.<br />

In 1976, G E Andrews found, among files<br />

from the succession of G N Watson, the so-called<br />

Lost Notebooks of Ramanujan in Trinity College<br />

(Cambridge). There were 138 sheets of paper<br />

containing some 650 statements all written while<br />

Ramanujan was spending the last years of his life<br />

in India. In these texts he gives formulae related<br />

to his discovery of what he called Mock Theta<br />

Functions, a hot research subject nowadays.<br />

2. Indo–French Connexion<br />

The relations between mathematicians from<br />

France and from India are old. As was already<br />

mentioned, the first links were established by<br />

A Weil in 1930, and shortly after that, Father<br />

Racine played a major role in the development<br />

of mathematical research in India.<br />

2.1. André Weil<br />

In 1929 Syed Ross Masood, Vice-Chancellor of<br />

Aligarh Muslim University, proposed a chair of<br />

French civilisation to André Weil, who was recommended<br />

to him by a specialist of Indology, Sylvain<br />

Levi. A few months later, this offer was converted<br />

into a Chair of <strong>Mathematics</strong>. Weil reached<br />

India in early 1930 and stayed there for more<br />

than two years. Among his Indian colleagues<br />

were T Vijayaraghavan, D Kosambi and S Chowla<br />

([18, Chap. IV]) whose intellectual qualities he<br />

appreciated.<br />

T Vijayaraghavan, who later became the first<br />

director of the Ramanujan Institute in Madras (at<br />

that time it was independent of the department<br />

of mathematics of the university), is known for<br />

his study of the so-called P V numbers, which<br />

were studied by C Pisot. The influence of Weil<br />

on Vijayaraghavan was important (cf. [8, p. 242]).<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

3<br />

Chowla later went to the University of Panjab<br />

and then migrated to the USA.<br />

Kosambi became a noted historian — his book<br />

on the Maurya Empire is classical.<br />

In [16], Weil gave a report on the situation of<br />

the universities in India in 1936. In his previous<br />

report [15] of 1931 at the Indian Mathematical<br />

Society he had suggested actions for the improvement<br />

of Indian mathematics. The conclusion of<br />

[16] deals with the potential of this country and<br />

the possibility for India to soon take one of the<br />

leading places in the international mathematical<br />

community (see also his comment p. 536 of [17]).<br />

2.2. Father Racine<br />

Father Racine (1897–1976) reached India in 1937<br />

as a Jesuit missionary after having taken his Doctorate<br />

in <strong>Mathematics</strong> in 1934 under Élie Cartan.<br />

He taught mathematics first at St Joseph’s College<br />

in Tiruchirappally (Trichy, Tamil Nadu) and<br />

from 1939 onwards at Loyola College (Madras).<br />

He had connections with many important French<br />

mathematicians of that time like J Hadamard,<br />

J Leray, A Weil, H Cartan. His erudition was<br />

clear from his lectures, his courses were research<br />

oriented in contrast with the traditional way of<br />

teaching which aimed only at leading the largest<br />

number of students to success in their exams. At<br />

that time with Ananda Rao, a noted analyst, and<br />

Vaidyanathaswamy, who had broader interests,<br />

Madras was the best place in India for studying<br />

mathematics and for starting into research.<br />

K Ananda Rao (1893–1966), a former student<br />

of G H Hardy at Cambridge (he was there at the<br />

same time as Ramanujan), is the author of important<br />

contributions to the summability of Dirichlet<br />

series, and, most of all, he had brilliant research<br />

students: T Vijayaraghavan (1902–1955), S S Pillai<br />

(1901–1950), Ganapathy Iyer, K Chandrasekharan<br />

and C T Rajagopal (1903–1978) are among them.<br />

R Vaidyanathaswamy (1894–1960), a former<br />

student of E T Whittaker at Edinburg and of<br />

H F Baker at Cambridge, had a deep impact on<br />

Indian mathematics. His background was more<br />

abstract than the ones of his colleagues, and he<br />

was remarkably open-minded.<br />

Father Racine and Vaidyanathaswamy were<br />

the promoters of modern mathematics. Instead of<br />

following the tradition by teaching only classical<br />

material, they also introduced in their courses the<br />

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14<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

new mathematical structures which were developed<br />

in a systematic way at that time by Bourbaki.<br />

Father Racine also encouraged his students to<br />

read recent books, like the one by L Schwartz<br />

on distributions. Further, he helped young mathematicans<br />

who did not find a position after their<br />

theses, like Minakshisundaram, one of the most<br />

gifted mathematicians of his generation, according<br />

to R Narasimhan ([8, p. 251]).<br />

The list [12] of the former students of Father<br />

Racine who became well known mathematicians<br />

is impressive: Venugopal Rao, P K Raman,<br />

M S Narasimhan, C S Seshadri, Ramabhadran,<br />

K Varadarajan, Raghavan Narasimhan, C P Ramanujam,<br />

Ramabhadran Narasimhan, Ananda<br />

Swarup, S Ramaswamy, Cyril D’Souza, Christopher<br />

Rego, V S Krishnan and S Sribala.<br />

Father Racine encouraged his best students to<br />

join the newly founded Tata Institute of Fundamental<br />

Research (TIFR) in Bombay with K Chandrasekharan<br />

and K G Ramanathan. This explains<br />

why so many mathematicians from that generation<br />

who were the leaders in TIFR came from<br />

Tamil Nadu.<br />

2.3. The Tata Institute<br />

The creation of the Tata Institute of Fundamental<br />

Research in Bombay is due to a physicist of the<br />

Indian Institute of Science of Bangalore, Homi<br />

J Bhabha (1909–1966), who had political support<br />

from J Nehru and financial support from the<br />

Tatas, a Parsi industrial family which is still extremely<br />

powerful. At the end of the 19th Century,<br />

a member of this family, Jamsetji Nusserwanji<br />

Tata, was at the origin of the creation of the<br />

Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. The goal<br />

of Bhabha was for India to acquire nuclear power,<br />

and for this purpose it was necessary to create a<br />

research school in physics of high level; in turn,<br />

this objective made it necessary to create a strong<br />

mathematical research school.<br />

K Chandrasekharan (who was to emigrate to<br />

ETH Zürich later) joined the Tata Institute as early<br />

as 1948 and became the director. Thanks to his<br />

remarkable action as the head of this institute,<br />

TIFR became a prestigious research institute. He<br />

had the ability to discover the talented future<br />

scientists and he knew how to direct them towards<br />

suitable research topics, even when he was<br />

not a specialist himself. At the same time, he<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

succeeded in attracting to Bombay a large number<br />

of the best mathematicians of that time, who<br />

gave courses to the young students working on<br />

their PhDs. With such a director, the Tata Institute<br />

of Bombay soon had a strong international<br />

reputation.<br />

Raghavan Narasimhan (who left later for<br />

Chicago), K G Ramanathan, K Ramachandra in<br />

number theory, C S Seshadri (FRS, now Director<br />

of the Chennai Mathematical Institute),<br />

M S Narasimhan (who has been Director of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

at ICTP (International Center for Theoretical<br />

Physics, also called Abdus Salam Center,<br />

in Trieste) in algebraic geometry, R Sridharan,<br />

R Parimala (invited lecturer at ICM2010) in commutative<br />

algebra, M S Raghunathan (FRS), Gopal<br />

Prasad, S G Dani, specialist of arithmetic groups,<br />

V K Patodi (Heat equation) are among the eminent<br />

mathematicians from TIFR. R Balasubramanian,<br />

now Head of Mat. Science (IMSc Institute<br />

of Mathematical Sciences) in Chennai, is a former<br />

student of K Ramachandra at TIFR Bombay.<br />

Right after its creation, many influential<br />

French mathematicians visited the Tata Institute<br />

of Bombay and gave courses. In the 50’s,<br />

L Schwartz visited it several times, followed by<br />

H Cartan, F Bruhat, J L Koszul, P Samuel, B Malgrange,<br />

J Dieudonné, P Gabriel, M Demazure,<br />

A Douady and many others, invited by the Director<br />

of that time, K Chandrasekharan. Later, at<br />

the end of the 60’s, A Weil and A Grothendieck<br />

visited TIFR.<br />

2.4. Indo–French cooperation in<br />

mathematics<br />

The influence of French mathematicians on the<br />

development of mathematics in India has played<br />

a leading role in at least two topics: algebraic<br />

geometry in the 1960’s and theoretical partial<br />

differential equations in the 1970’s.<br />

J-L Verdier was responsible for a PICS Inde<br />

(PICS = Programme International de Coopération<br />

Scientifique) of the CNRS (Centre International<br />

de la Recherche Scientifique) from 1986 to 1989.<br />

A report on this cooperation was published<br />

in the Gazette des Mathématiciens of the Société<br />

Mathématique de France (n ◦ 49, juin 1991,<br />

pp. 59–61).<br />

A second report dealing with the activities<br />

from 1986 and 1995 was published in the same<br />

Gazette des Mathématiciens (n ◦ 71, 1997, pp. 62–65).<br />

4


In applied mathematics also the cooperation<br />

between mathematicians from France and from<br />

India is quite strong. While J L Lions was at the<br />

head of INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en<br />

Informatique et Automatique) in Rocquencourt,<br />

he developed close relations with several Indian<br />

institutions: IISc (Indian Institute of Science) in<br />

Bangalore, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology)<br />

in Delhi, and most of all with the small group<br />

of mathematicians working on partial differential<br />

equations in the Bangalore section of TIFR. In<br />

September 1997, a Master of Scientific Calculus<br />

was created at the the University of Pondicherry,<br />

thanks to cooperative efforts directed by O Pironneau.<br />

The cooperation on Scientific Calculus for<br />

Mechanics and Engineering between the Laboratory<br />

of Numerical Analysis of Paris VI and INRIA<br />

Rocquencourt in France and ISSc Bangalore, TIFR<br />

Bangalore and IIT Delhi in India, started in 1975<br />

and the agreements have been renewed in 1993;<br />

this programme is supported by IFCPAR, the<br />

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the P ô l e<br />

de recherche commun Dassault-Aviation/Université<br />

Paris VI.<br />

Since 1995, many projects benefitted from different<br />

financial supports in all fields of science.<br />

Among them are the following ones:<br />

• The Indo–French Centre for the Promotion of<br />

Advanced Research (IFCPAR, CEFIPRA in<br />

French) is a bilateral programme of scientific<br />

cooperation between India and France under<br />

the Department of Science and Technology,<br />

Government of India and the Ministry of Foreign<br />

Affairs, Government of France. Under the<br />

heading of pure and applied mathematics, there<br />

is one ongoing project:<br />

NUMERICAL TREATMENT OF INTEGRAL OPERATORS<br />

WITH NON-SMOOTH KERNELS<br />

Three years (September, 2009 to August, 2012)<br />

and the following ones have been completed:<br />

CONTROL OF SYSTEMS OF PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL<br />

EQUATIONS<br />

Three years (February, 2008 to January, 2011)<br />

ARITHMETIC OF AUTOMORPHIC FORMS<br />

Three years (September, 2007 to August, 2010)<br />

CONSERVATION LAWS AND HAMILTON JACOBI<br />

EQUATIONS<br />

Three years (September, 2006 to August, 2009)<br />

ADVANCED NUMERICAL METHODS IN NONLINEAR<br />

FLUID MECHANICS AND ACOUSTICS: NONLINEAR<br />

ANALYSIS AND OPTIMISATION<br />

Three years (March, 2006 to February, 2009)<br />

ANALYTIC AND COMBINATORIAL NUMBER THEORY<br />

Three years (October, 2003 to September, 2006)<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

5<br />

MATHEMATICAL TOPICS IN HYPERBOLIC SYSTEMS<br />

OF CONSERVATION LAWS<br />

Four years (July, 2002 to June, 2006)<br />

STUDIES IN GEOMETRY OF BANACH SPACES<br />

Three years (November, 2001 to October, 2004)<br />

ALGEBRAIC GROUPS IN ARITHMETIC AND<br />

GEOMETRY<br />

Three years (September, 2001 to August, 2004)<br />

NON-CUMULATIVE MARKOV PROCESSES AND OP-<br />

ERATOR SPACES<br />

Three years (May, 2001 to April, 2004)<br />

NONLINEAR PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS<br />

AND CONTROL<br />

Three years and six months (July, 1999 to December,<br />

2002)<br />

THEORETICAL STUDY OF ELECTRONIC AND MOLEC-<br />

ULAR DYNAMIC<br />

Three years and six months (March, 1999 to August,<br />

2002)<br />

GEOMETRY<br />

Three years (May, 1997 to April, 2000)<br />

NONLINER HYPERBOLIC AND ELLIPTICAL EQUA-<br />

TIONS AND APPLICATIONS<br />

Three years (May, 1997 to April, 2000)<br />

RIGOROUS RESULTS ON SCHRÖDINGER EQUATIONS<br />

AND FOUNDATIONS OF QUANTUM THEORY<br />

AND APPLICATIONS TO PARTICLE PHYSICS AND<br />

ASTROPHYSICS<br />

Three years and six months (March, 1999 to August,<br />

2002)<br />

ARITHMETIC AND AUTOMORPHIC FORMS<br />

Three years (November, 1996 to October, 1999)<br />

CHAOS, TURBULENCE AND COLLECTIVE RELAXA-<br />

TION IN NON-EQUILIBRIUM PLASMAS<br />

Four years (December, 1995 to November, 1999)<br />

INTEGRABILITY ASPECTS OF DISCRETE AND CON-<br />

TINUOUS EQUATIONS<br />

Three years (August, 1995 to July, 1998)<br />

ASYMPTOTIC ANALYSIS IN PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL<br />

EQUATIONS<br />

Three years (February, 1995 to February, 1998)<br />

GEOMETRY AND NUMBER THEORY<br />

Three years (February, 1992 to January, 1995)<br />

NONLINEAR HYPERBOLIC EQUATIONS AND<br />

APPLICATIONS<br />

Three years (March, 1992 to February, 1995)<br />

A STUDY OF SOME FACTORISATION AND COM-<br />

POSITION PROBLEMS IN GRAPHS<br />

Three years and six months (September, 1992 to<br />

February, 1996)<br />

NUMERICAL MODELLING OF THE OCEAN-ATMOS-<br />

PHERE SYSTEM WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO<br />

MONSOONS<br />

One year (April, 1989 to March, 1990)<br />

• The Indo–French Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> (IFIM<br />

= Institut Franco–Indien de Mathématiques) is<br />

a virtual institute which was created in 2003<br />

with the support of NBHM (National Board for<br />

Higher <strong>Mathematics</strong>) and DST (Department of<br />

Science and Technology) on the Indian side and<br />

MAE (Ministère des Affaires Étrangères) and<br />

CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)<br />

on the French side. One of the main<br />

objectives is to provide financial support for<br />

doctoral, postdoctoral and research positions.<br />

• There are several MoU (Memorandum of Understanding)<br />

between French and Indian Uni-<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 15


16<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

versities. One of them involved the University<br />

of Pondicherry in India and the universities<br />

of Paris VI and Poitiers in France. During a<br />

number of years, there were many scientific<br />

exchanges under this agreement with a strong<br />

support of the French Embassy in Delhi.<br />

Thanks to an agreement (MoU) between the<br />

CMI (Chennai Mathematical Institute) and ENS<br />

(École Normale Supérieure, rue d’Ulm, Paris),<br />

every year since 2000, some three young students<br />

from ENS visit CMI for two months and deliver<br />

courses to the undergraduate students of CMI,<br />

and three students from CMI visit ENS for two<br />

months. The French students are accommodated<br />

in the guest house of IMSc, which participates in<br />

this cooperation.<br />

Another MoU has been signed in 2009 between<br />

the University of Paris VI Pierre et Marie Curie<br />

and the two institutes of Chennai, CMI and IMSc.<br />

An item in this MoU follows a recommendation<br />

of the COPED (Committee for Developing Countries)<br />

of the French Academy of Sciences: each<br />

year, one full-time teaching duty of a mathematician<br />

from Paris VI will be given in Chennai. In<br />

practice, two professors from Paris 6 will go to<br />

CMI each year to teach a graduate programme<br />

for one term each.<br />

New IITs are being launched, one of them in<br />

Rajasthan, supported by the French government.<br />

An agreement with the University Paris Sud (Orsay)<br />

enables the teachers from that university to<br />

deliver their courses in this new IIT.<br />

• Several other sources of funding enable senior<br />

mathematicians from India and France to visit<br />

the other country. Among them include support<br />

from CNRS and the Ministry of Education<br />

in France and from the NBHM in India. As<br />

an example, an agreement between CNRS and<br />

NBHM from 1999 to 2003 enabled some three<br />

mathematicians from each country to visit the<br />

other one in each year, when no other support<br />

from one of the other programmes was suitable.<br />

There are also agreements between the<br />

Académie des Sciences de Paris and the INSA<br />

(National Science Academy) in New Delhi.<br />

• A number of scholarships enable young mathematicians<br />

from India (as well as from other<br />

countries) to pursue their studies in France.<br />

This includes cotutelle theses (codirection). The<br />

website of the French Embassy gathers some<br />

information on this matter and proposes a<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

number of links to several institutions in<br />

France: Campus France, Egide, CNOUS (Centre<br />

National des Oeuvres Universitaires et<br />

Scolaires), ONISEP (a French provider of student<br />

career and job information), CEFI (Centre<br />

de ressources et de prospective sur les Grandes<br />

écoles d’ingénieurs et de gestion, et sur les<br />

emplois d’encadrement). . .<br />

http://ambafrance-in.org/france− inde/spip.php?article4158<br />

• A joint initiative of CIMPA (Centre International<br />

de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées),<br />

SMF (Société Mathématique de France) and<br />

SMAI (Société de Mathématiques Appliquées<br />

et Industrielles) gave rise to a wiki–style website<br />

concerning mathematics in the world, with<br />

an emphasis on cooperation involving French<br />

mathematicians and mathematicians from developing<br />

countries:<br />

http://smf4.emath.fr/International/Projet-CIMPA-SMAI-SMF/<br />

• The Online Survey of European Researchers in India,<br />

an initiative of the Science and Technology<br />

Delegation of the European Union to India, has<br />

been launched in February 2010. It will lead<br />

a database of European researchers who have<br />

links with Indian colleagues.<br />

• The two French institutes, CSH (Centre de Sciences<br />

Humaines) and IFP (Institut Français de<br />

Pondichéry), are joint institutes of CNRS and<br />

MAE (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs) since<br />

2007. Among their missions is the development<br />

of scientific international collaboration in the<br />

Indian subcontinent. Both institutes aim to develop<br />

cooperation in mathematics and statistics,<br />

including applications to social sciences and<br />

humanities.<br />

• A Cyber University called FICUS (French<br />

Indian Cyber-University in Sciences) already<br />

started with the mathematics component called<br />

e-m@ths<br />

http://www.ncsi.iisc.ernet.in/disc/indo-french/emaths.htm<br />

In France, e-m@ths is being funded within<br />

the frame of the Campus Numériques request<br />

for proposal. It proceeds from the desire of the<br />

applied maths and pure maths communities to<br />

position themselves within the field of Information<br />

Technology for Education. It is an opportunity<br />

to gather together both communities<br />

through a joint project that could kick-start the<br />

development of collaboration in creation and<br />

6


utilisation of learning materials. The purpose of<br />

the “e-m@th” project is the design of a bilateral<br />

curriculum of graduate type (Masters, first year<br />

of PhD) involving Indian and French institutions.<br />

The goal is the design, implementation<br />

and operation of education modules in applied<br />

mathematics for initial or continuing education.<br />

Simultaneously, the project aims at strengthening<br />

the links and collaboration at the research<br />

level between the scientific teams involved in<br />

the construction of the curriculum.<br />

• The CIMPA, already mentioned, a non-profit<br />

international organisation established in Nice<br />

(France) since 1978, whose aim is to promote<br />

international cooperation in higher education<br />

and research in mathematics and related subjects,<br />

particularly computer science, for the benefit<br />

of developing countries, organised several<br />

research schools in India. Here is the list:<br />

January 1996: Pondicherry University<br />

Nonlinear Systems<br />

org. Y Kosmann-Schwarzbach, B Grammaticos and<br />

K M Tamizhmani.<br />

September 2002: TIFR Mumbai (Bombay)<br />

Probability measures on groups: Recent Direction and trends,<br />

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai (Bombay)<br />

org. S Dani, P Gratzyck, Y Guivarc’h.<br />

December 2002: Kolkata (Calcutta)<br />

Soft Computing approach to pattern recognition and image<br />

processing. Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical<br />

Institute, Calcutta<br />

org. Ashish Ghosh, Sankar K Pal.<br />

February 2003: Pondicherry University<br />

Discrete Integrable Systems, Pondicherry<br />

org. Basil Grammaticos, Yvette Kosmann-Schwarzbach,<br />

Thamizharasi Tamizhmani.<br />

January 25–February 5, 2005: IISc Bangalore<br />

Security for Computer Systems and Networks<br />

org. K Gopinath and Jean-Jacques Lévy.<br />

January 2–12, 2008: IIT Bombay (Mumbai)<br />

Commutative algebra<br />

org. L L Avramov, M Chardin, M E Ross, J K Verma,<br />

T J Puthenpurakal.<br />

Three CIMPA Research Schools are scheduled<br />

for 2013:<br />

July 8–19, 2013: Indian Institute of Science Bangalore<br />

Current Trends in Computational Methods for PDEs<br />

org. Blanca Ayuso de Dios and Thirupathi Gudi<br />

November 18–30, 2013: Shillong<br />

Fourier Analysis of Groups in Combinatorics<br />

org. Gautami Bhowmik and Himadri Mukherjee<br />

November 25–December 6, 2013: University of Delhi,<br />

New Delhi<br />

Generalised Nash Equilibrium Problems, Bilevel Programming<br />

and MPEC<br />

org. Didier Aussel and C S Lalitha<br />

• A joint Indo–French Conference in <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

took place from December 15 to 19, 2008, at the<br />

Institute of Mathematical Sciences of Chennai.<br />

There were some 10 plenary lectures and 30<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

7<br />

lectures in parallel sessions, half of them given<br />

by Indian mathematicians and the other half by<br />

French mathematicians.<br />

Since H Cartan passed away a few days<br />

before this meeting (at the age of 104), two<br />

special lectures (by J Oesterlé and C S Seshadri)<br />

were devoted to him on the last day.<br />

• The most important part of cooperation between<br />

France and India in mathematics is constituted<br />

by the new results proved by the joint<br />

works of mathematicians from both countries.<br />

We conclude with two such outstanding results.<br />

The first one is the final step to the determination<br />

of Waring’s constant g(4) = 19 in<br />

1986 by R Balasubramanian, J-M Deshouillers<br />

and F Dress [2, 3]:<br />

Any positive integer is the sum of at most 19<br />

biquadrates.<br />

The second one was called Serre’s Modularity<br />

Conjecture, until it was finally proved in 2006<br />

in a joint work by Chandrashekhar Khare and<br />

Jean-Pierre Wintenberger [6, 7]:<br />

Let<br />

ρ : GQ → GL2(F)<br />

be an absolutely irreducible, continuous, and<br />

odd two-dimensional representation of GQ over<br />

a finite field F = Fℓr of characteristic ℓ. There<br />

exists a normalised modular eigenform<br />

f = q + a2q 2 + a3q 3 + ···<br />

of level N = N(̺), weight k = k(̺), and some<br />

Nebentype character χ : Z/NZ → F ∗ such that<br />

for all prime numbers p, coprime to Nℓ, we<br />

have<br />

and<br />

Acknowledgments<br />

Trace (ρ( Frobp )) = ap<br />

det( ρ( Frobp )) = p k−1 χ(p).<br />

A preliminary version of this text has been improved<br />

thanks to comments by Anitha Srinivasan,<br />

M S Raghunathan, Gilles Godefroy, Emmanuel<br />

Trélat, Jean-Pierre Demailly, Claude Levesque and<br />

Samy Ponnusamy. I am also thankful to Gautami<br />

Bhowmik for a number of grammatical and linguistic<br />

corrections.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 17


18<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

References<br />

[1] A. Bag, <strong>Mathematics</strong> in Ancient and Medieval India<br />

(Chaukhamba Orientala, Benarès, 1979).<br />

[2] R. Balasubramanian, J.-M. Deshouillers and<br />

F. Dress, Problème de Waring pour les bicarrés. I.<br />

Schéma de la solution, C.R.Acad.Sci.Paris,Sér.I<br />

Math. 303 (1986) 85–88.<br />

[3] R. Balasubramanian, J.-M. Deshouillers and<br />

F. Dress, Problème de Waring pour les bicarrés. II.<br />

Résultats auxiliaires pour le théorème asymptotique,<br />

C.R.Acad.Sci.Paris,Sér.IMath.303 (1986)<br />

161–163.<br />

[4] G. H. Hardy, L’apologie d’un mathématicien; Ramanujan,<br />

un mathématicien indien; Bertrand Russell<br />

et le Collège de la Trinité, Un Savant, une Époque.<br />

[A Scientist, an Era], Librairie Classique Eugène<br />

Belin, Paris, 1985. Translated from the English by<br />

D. Jullien and S. Yoccoz, with a preface by J.-P.<br />

Kahane, with a postface by C. P. Snow.<br />

[5] G. R. Kaye, Indian <strong>Mathematics</strong> (Calcutta & Simla,<br />

Thaker, Spink & Co., 1915).<br />

[6] C. Khare and J.-P. Wintenberger, Serre’s modularity<br />

conjecture. I, Invent. Math. 178 (2009) 485–504.<br />

[7] C. Khare and J.-P. Wintenberger, Serre’s modularity<br />

conjecture. II, Invent. Math. 178 (2009) 505–586.<br />

[8] R. Narasimhan, The coming of age of mathematics<br />

in India, in Miscellanea Mathematica (Springer,<br />

Berlin, 1991), pp. 235–258.<br />

[9] K. Plofker, <strong>Mathematics</strong> in India (Princeton University<br />

Press, Princeton, NJ, 2009).<br />

[10] M. S. Raghunathan, Artless innocents and ivorytower<br />

sophisticates: Some personalities on the Indian<br />

mathematical scene, Current Science 85 (2003)<br />

526–536.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Michel Waldschmidt<br />

Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), France<br />

[11] S. Ramanujan, Ramanujan’s Notebooks [Part<br />

I (Springer, New York, 1985) MR0781125<br />

(86c:01062); Part II (1989); MR0970033 (90b:01039);<br />

Part III (1991); MR1117903 (92j:01069); Part IV<br />

(1994); MR1261634 (95e:11028); Part V (1998);<br />

MR1486573 (99f:11024)]. The Notebooks will be<br />

available online in 2010.<br />

[12] M. Santiago, International Conference on Teaching<br />

and Research in <strong>Mathematics</strong>, in Birth Centenary<br />

Celebrations of Father Charles Racine, S. J. Loyola<br />

College, Racine Research Centre, Chennai<br />

(January, 1997).<br />

[13] C. N. Srinivasiengar, The History of Ancient Indian<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> (The World Press Private, Ltd., Calcutta,<br />

1967).<br />

[14] V. S. Varadarajan, Algebra in Ancient and Modern<br />

Times, Vol. 12 of Mathematical World (American<br />

Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 1998).<br />

[15] A. Weil, <strong>Mathematics</strong> in Indian Universities, Seventh<br />

Conference of the Indian Mathematical<br />

Society, Trivandrum, Scientific Works. Collected<br />

Papers. Vol. I (1926–1951) (Springer-Verlag, New<br />

York-Heidelberg, 1931). Scientific works. Collected<br />

papers, [17] pp. 127–128.<br />

[16] A. Weil, <strong>Mathematics</strong> in India, Usp. Mat. Nauk 3, I<br />

(1936) 286–288. Scientific works. Collected papers,<br />

[17] pp. 129–131.<br />

[17] A. Weil, Scientific Works. Collected Papers. Vol. I<br />

(1926–1951) (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1979).<br />

[18] A. Weil, Souvenirs d’apprentissage, Vol. 6 of Vita<br />

Mathematica (Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 1991).<br />

[19] A. Weil, Number Theory, An Approach Through<br />

History from Hammurapi to Legendre, Modern<br />

Birkhäuser Classics (Birkhäuser Boston Inc.,<br />

Boston, MA, 2007). Reprint of the 1984 edition.<br />

This is an updated and revised version of the article<br />

published in Special Issue on <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong>,<br />

Vol. 19, Sp. No. 1, August 2010, p. 1-12<br />

Michel Waldschmidt obtained his PhD from the University of Bordeaux in 1972. He<br />

joined Pierre and Marie Curie University (or The Paris VI University) as Assistant Professor<br />

(1972–1973), and he became a Professor in 1973. He became a full Professor at the Paris<br />

Michel WALDSCHMIDT<br />

VI University in 1978, and he was full Professor (Exceptional Class) since 1989 at the<br />

same university. Professor Waldschmidt Université was awarded P. et the M. Albert Curie Chatelet UPMC Medal (Paris(1974), VI)<br />

Foundation Peccot, College de France (1977), Institut Gold de Mathématiques Medal CNRS (1978), de Jussieu Marquet UMR Prize 7586<br />

of the French Academy of Sciences, Robert Théorie Bosch des Foundation Nombres – Case Fellow, 247IAS,<br />

Princeton<br />

(1985), Distinguished Award of the Hardy–Ramanujan 4 Place Jussieu Society (1986), Honorary Fellow of<br />

the Hardy–Ramanujan Society (2006). He<br />

F–75252<br />

was the<br />

PARIS<br />

President<br />

Cedex<br />

of the<br />

05<br />

French Mathematical<br />

Society (2001–2004). Professor Waldschmidt is very active in international collaboration<br />

e-mail: miw@math.jussieu.fr<br />

in mathematics research, in particular Iran–France, Taiwan–France, and also with India,<br />

Pakistan, Kurdistan, and African countries.<br />

URL:<br />

He<br />

http://www.math.jussieu.fr/∼miw/<br />

was the Deputy President of CIMPA-<br />

ICPAM (2005–2009), and he was its Regional Scientific Advisor (2009–2011). Professor<br />

Waldschmidt has published more than 150 scientific papers, and he has trained 20<br />

research students. He is also a member of the editorial board of several international<br />

journals on mathematics.<br />

8


Vietnam Institute for<br />

Advanced Study in <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

1. Historical Background<br />

International Inauguration of VIASM, January 17, 2012<br />

The mathematics profession in Vietnam is relatively<br />

young. In some sense, one can say that it was<br />

only started in the 50s of last century. But it has<br />

gained certain achievements with many publications in<br />

international journals and made important contributions<br />

to the economic and social development of Vietnam. All<br />

these create a good perception by mathematicians around<br />

the world of mathematics in Vietnam.<br />

In addition to developing professional mathematics<br />

(e.g. pure and applied mathematics), since 1974, Vietnam<br />

has participated in the International Mathematical<br />

Olympiad (IMO). It is very encouraging that Vietnam<br />

IMO contestants achieved consistently good results. At<br />

the culminating event, for the first time Vietnam successfully<br />

hosted IMO-48 in 2007, with the participation of 93<br />

countries and territories. In that year, the Vietnam IMO<br />

team received, same as 1999, the highest ranking (the<br />

third place, after Russia and China) in its history of IMO<br />

participation.<br />

The good and relatively consistent results of the<br />

Vietnam IMO teams (often in the top ten), together<br />

with domestic and foreign perception about Vietnam<br />

mathematics, lead to a misleading view that mathematics<br />

in Vietnam is quite strong. In August 2007, after the<br />

IMO-48, Vietnamese mathematicians working in and<br />

outside Vietnam (who participated in problems selection<br />

and coordination of the Olympiad) sat together to discuss<br />

the cooperation among the Vietnamese mathematical<br />

community. All participants shared the same view that<br />

Lê Tuấn Hoa and Trần Văn Nhung<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

mathematics in Vietnam remains weak despite the positive<br />

results at IMO. Acknowledging this fact, the Deputy Prime<br />

Minister, Professor Nguyễn Thiện Nhân — who chaired<br />

the meeting — requested a careful research on the status<br />

of mathematics in Vietnam to be conducted and make<br />

recommendations to bring mathematics to the next stage<br />

of development.<br />

Shortly thereafter, the government decided to develop<br />

a “National Programme for the Development of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

until 2020” (NPDM) under the direct guidance of<br />

the Deputy Prime Minister Professor Nguyễn Thiện Nhân<br />

— who was at that time also the Minister of Education<br />

and Training. The chief of the Drafting Committee was<br />

a mathematician — Professor Trần Văn Nhung, a Vice-<br />

Minister of Education and Training. Many Vietnamese<br />

mathematics professors joined the Drafting Committee.<br />

The critical point of the programme as determined<br />

by the Drafting Committee from the outset was to set up<br />

an advanced research institute. This idea is not entirely<br />

new. Back in the 80s of the last century, Professors Lê<br />

Văn Thiêm and Hoàng Tụy dreamed of turning Hanoi<br />

into one of the mathematical centres in Southeast Asia.<br />

By early 90s, Professor Hoàng Tụy brought the idea to<br />

establish a research institute in industrial and management<br />

mathematics with a more flexible working mechanism<br />

than that of the Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> Hanoi. A project<br />

team was set up to conduct the study, but no concrete<br />

outcome was achieved.<br />

Entering the 21st century, Professor P Griffiths,<br />

Director of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) at<br />

Princeton, made several trips to Vietnam to encourage the<br />

setting up of a millennium institute. In one of his trips, he<br />

came with Professor C Kim, former Director of the Korean<br />

Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS). However, the two<br />

mathematicians did not achieve their desired outcome.<br />

Was Vietnam not ready for that?<br />

After three years of working, considering experiences,<br />

lessons from various countries as well as seeking<br />

comments from selected mathematicians and managers,<br />

the final draft of NPDM was completed and submitted<br />

by early 2010. However, there remain many challenges<br />

until the approval by the government was granted. On<br />

one hand, the public did not see the necessity of a special<br />

regime which is the key success factor of an advanced<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 19


20<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

institute. On the other hand, the candidate for the<br />

Scientific Director position of the Institute has not been<br />

agreed, although the name of Ngô Bảo Châu, 2004 Clay<br />

Award winner, was discussed. Only when the rumours<br />

about Fields Award to Ngô Bảo Châu became the truth,<br />

this question was solved.<br />

In August 2010, closer to the opening ceremony of<br />

ICM 2010, experts increasingly believed that Professor<br />

Ngô Bảo Châu would be awarded the Fields Medal — the<br />

highest award for mathematicians. With such great faith,<br />

on August 17, 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister Professor<br />

Nguyễn Thiện Nhân, on behalf of the government, issued<br />

Decision No. 1483/QD-TTg approving the NPDM. Two<br />

days later, in Hyderabad, India, Professor Ngô Bảo Châu<br />

officially received the honourary Fields Award from the<br />

Indian President.<br />

The leader of the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study<br />

in <strong>Mathematics</strong> (VIASM) has only been determined after<br />

the acceptance of Professor Ngô Bảo Châu to assume<br />

the role of the Scientific Director. The only remaining<br />

problem is to formulate a regime to support the operation<br />

of VIASM. After 4 months of hard work of the Drafting<br />

Committee and the Ministry of Education and Training<br />

Ngô Bảo Châu received Fields Award in India in 2010<br />

together with the support of many relevant ministries and<br />

institutions, the regulation on organisation and operation<br />

of VIASM was completed. On December 23, 2010, the<br />

Prime Minister issued Decision 2342/QD-TTg to establish<br />

the VIASM together with the approved regulation on its<br />

organisation and operation.<br />

2. Organisation<br />

The establishment of VIASM is well-received by all<br />

mathematicians as well as Vietnamese scientists working<br />

in or outside of the country.<br />

The Institute follows the model of the IAS in Princeton<br />

and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI)<br />

in Berkeley with certain modifications to reflect the<br />

specific situation of Vietnam. This is an unprecedented<br />

model in Vietnam. The Institute will have no or very few<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

permanent researchers, but will sponsor several research<br />

programmes and study groups of different sizes. This<br />

flexible scheme allows the Institute to invite reputable<br />

international scientists to Vietnam and create favourable<br />

conditions for Vietnamese scientists to have access to the<br />

best ideas and actual achievements of science in the world.<br />

The Institute is also a place where Vietnamese scientists<br />

working abroad can come and work with their colleagues<br />

in Vietnam for a longer period.<br />

The VIASM is managed by a Board of Directors which<br />

consists of a Scientific Director, a Managing Director and<br />

one or two Deputy Directors. The Scientific Director is<br />

Professor Ngô Bảo Châu appointed on March 3, 2011. He<br />

is also a professor at the University of Chicago and thus<br />

assumes the director role on a non-executive basis. In<br />

order to take this dual role, Professor Ngô Bảo Châu has<br />

received the full support from the University of Chicago.<br />

The Managing Director is an executive position and is<br />

responsible for the day to day operation of the Institute.<br />

On June 1, 2011, Professor Lê Tuấn Hoa — the President<br />

of the Vietnam Mathematical Society of Vietnam, Deputy<br />

Director of Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> Hanoi — was<br />

seconded to the VIASM to undertake this role with a 3<br />

year term.<br />

The International Advisory Board and Scientific<br />

Committee are the advisors to the Board of Directors.<br />

The International Advisory Board currently consists of<br />

six international reputable professors: J P Bourguignon<br />

(IHES, Paris), R Fefferman (Chicago), P A Griffiths (IAS,<br />

Princeton), B Gross (Harvard), M Grötschel (TU, Berlin)<br />

and M S Raghunathan (Tata, Mumbai).<br />

The Scientific Committee was established by the<br />

Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam. The<br />

Scientific Committee for the period 2011–2014 consists<br />

of 14 Vietnamese professors, including 12 professors in<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong>, a professor in Physics and a professor in<br />

Computer Science. They are: Ngô Bảo Châu (University<br />

of Chicago and VIASM, Chairman), Ngô Việt Trung (IM<br />

Hanoi, Vice Chairman), Nguyễn Hữu Dư (HUS-VNU,<br />

Secretary), Hồ Tú Bảo (JAIST), Đinh Tiến Cường (Paris<br />

6), Dương Minh Đức (HUS-VNUHCMC), Lê Tuấn Hoa<br />

(VIASM), Nguyễn Hữu Việt Hưng (HUS-VNU), Phan<br />

Quốc Khánh (IU-VNUHCMC), Trần Văn Nhung (the<br />

State Council for Professor Titles of Vietnam), Hoàng<br />

Xuân Phú (IM Hanoi), Đàm Thanh Sơn (Washington)<br />

and Vũ Hà Văn (Yale).<br />

3. Mission<br />

The vision of VIASM is to become an excellent research<br />

centre for mathematics, with a good working environment


same as in some developed countries. This is a place for<br />

academic exchanges to build the scientific capacity of<br />

researchers and teachers of pure and applied mathematics<br />

in Vietnam.<br />

More specifically, the Institute will conduct research<br />

programmes and projects of high quality, which especially<br />

focus on the formation of new branches of mathematics<br />

and development of undeveloped branches. The Institute<br />

is responsible for creating favourable working conditions<br />

for junior Vietnamese mathematicians as well as for<br />

supporting senior Vietnamese mathematicians to become<br />

leading experts. It aims to attract Vietnamese mathematicians<br />

from abroad and international mathematicians to<br />

Vietnam and participate in research and training. It also<br />

supports and enhances collaborative research and training<br />

of the mathematicians in the country as well as promotes<br />

international cooperation.<br />

Another important task is to support and promote the<br />

cooperation between mathematics and related sciences,<br />

such as physics, computer science, earth science, life<br />

sciences, economics, etc. So in the future, along with the<br />

mathematicians, the Institute also welcomes researchers in<br />

other fields with research projects related to mathematics.<br />

4. Location and Facilities<br />

Officially commencing operations on June 1, 2011, the<br />

Institute is temporarily located at the 7th floor of Tạ Quang<br />

Bửu Library in the campus of the Hanoi University of<br />

Science and Technology (formerly Hanoi Polytechnic<br />

University), No. 1 Dai Co Viet, Hanoi. In addition to<br />

offices for the board of directors, administration, library<br />

and lecture hall, the Institute has 10 working offices for<br />

20 researchers. The working facilities are fully provided. It<br />

would take a long time for the library to buy the necessary<br />

books and magazines. Initially, the Institute plans to utilise<br />

the library of the Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> Hanoi, to meet<br />

the requirements of the researchers.<br />

The government has decided to allocate the land for<br />

building the Institute campus in Hanoi. The Hanoi People’s<br />

VIASM<br />

Committee has been requested to arrange the appropriate<br />

location. However, the construction of the campus will<br />

certainly take time. Therefore, in the next 2–3 years the<br />

Institute will be at its temporary office. If the number of<br />

participating researchers increases, the Institute will lease<br />

additional space in the same building.<br />

The size and the operation of the Institute rely partially<br />

on the support of companies and individuals throughout<br />

the country. As a typical example, a few months after its<br />

establishment, a villa at Tuần Châu Resort in Halong<br />

Bay — a world natural wonder — was donated to VIASM<br />

by the Chairman of Tuần Châu Group, Mr Đào Hồng<br />

Tuyển. Once the construction is completed, the villa will<br />

be used for working groups, conducting seminars and<br />

small workshops.<br />

Researchers coming from outside Hanoi will be<br />

provided with accommodation at hotels/ guesthouses<br />

or rented apartments paid for by the Institute. In the<br />

future when the land is allocated, the Institute will build<br />

a guesthouse for the researchers.<br />

5. International Inauguration<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Donation ceremony of<br />

Đào Hồng Tuyển villa<br />

Although the Establishment Decision was issued in late<br />

2010, the Institute officially came into operation on<br />

June 1, 2011 after the appointment of the two directors.<br />

During the last six months of 2011, the Institute has<br />

hosted a number of minicourses on number theory, the<br />

probabilistic methods in discrete mathematics and on<br />

signal processing. However, the primary task during<br />

the second half of 2011 was office fit-out and drafting<br />

the special financial system to support the operation<br />

model of VIASM. During this period, the Scientific<br />

Committee and the International Advisory Board of<br />

the Institute were set up. The two councils immediately<br />

started various discussions on the direction of the<br />

Institute activities.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 21


22<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

After a period of intensive preparation, the infrastructure<br />

of the Institute has been completed. Therefore,<br />

on January 17, 2012, the International Inauguration<br />

Ceremony was held. On this occasion, a forum on “The<br />

role of institutes for advanced study in promoting mathematics<br />

in Vietnam and in the region” was conducted<br />

prior to the ceremony.<br />

Participating at the opening ceremony and the forum<br />

were nine international scientists from eight research<br />

centres: the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques<br />

(IHES, France), the Division of Natural Sciences of<br />

University of Chicago, Research Institute for Mathematical<br />

Sciences (RIMS, Japan), Tata Institute (India),<br />

KIAS, Institute for Mathematical Sciences at NUS (IMS,<br />

Singapore), Institut Penyelidikan Matematik (INSPEM,<br />

Malaysia), Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences<br />

(ASSMS, Pakistan). In particular, three are members of<br />

the International Advisory Board: Professor Bourguigon,<br />

Director of IHES, Professor Fefferman, Dean of the<br />

Division of Natural Sciences of University of Chicago<br />

and Professor Raghunathan from Tata who was the<br />

Chairman of ICM 2010. Springer Publishing House also<br />

sent representatives to this event.<br />

The International Inauguration Ceremony also<br />

welcomed the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister<br />

Professor Nguyễn Thiện Nhân — who is always a<br />

strong supporter of VIASM and the NPDM. Other<br />

senior government officials include: Professor Phạm<br />

Deputy Prime Minister Professor Nguyễn Thiện Nhân at the<br />

International Inauguration Ceremony<br />

Vũ Luận — Minister of Education and Training, Dr<br />

Nguyễn Quân — Minister of Science and Technology,<br />

Professor Đào Trọng Thi — Chairman of the Committee<br />

of Culture, Education, Youth and Children of Vietnam<br />

National Assembly (who is also a mathematician), many<br />

other senior leaders as well as many other politicians and<br />

guests. Nearly 100 mathematicians, mainly from Hanoi,<br />

joined the opening ceremony and the forum.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

The international guests shared interesting lessons on<br />

their research institutes and recommendations for the<br />

future operation of the VIASM.<br />

Professor M Kashiwara, a long-term Ex-Director of<br />

RIMS, presented an overview of the activities of RIMS since<br />

its founding in 1963. He especially introduced research<br />

projects, number of visitors and publications sponsored<br />

by RIMS.<br />

Professor M S Raghunathan made an emphasis<br />

on the first days of building the Tata institute. Despite<br />

significant difficulties,<br />

the Tata Institute was<br />

quite successful thanks<br />

to high enthusiasm of<br />

Indian scientists. He<br />

also shared certain key<br />

success factors of the<br />

Tata Institute. M S Raghunathan and A D M Choudary<br />

Professor D Kim explained the fast development of<br />

KIAS — which is considered to be a gift for tomorrow in<br />

South Korea. Since its<br />

foundation 15 years<br />

ago, KIAS always<br />

plays an important<br />

role and made significant<br />

contributions to<br />

promoting mathematics<br />

in South Korea. D Kim and L Chen<br />

He also emphasised the big investment of the South<br />

Korean government in science. As a good example, USD<br />

17.1 million out of a total budget of USD 20.1 million for<br />

KIAS in 2011 came from the government.<br />

The directors L Chen (IMS NUS), K A M Atan<br />

(INSPEM, Malaysia) and A Choudary (ASSMS, Pakistan)<br />

all shared the view that the institutes for advanced<br />

study in mathematics play very important roles in the<br />

development of mathematics in their home countries<br />

and believe that VIASM will also perform a similar<br />

role in Vietnam.<br />

At the Inauguration Ceremony of VIASM, Professor<br />

J P Bourguignon presented an interesting talk on “IHES:<br />

A Few Lessons from an Unusual Adventure”. The idea<br />

of IHES came from the founder Léon Motchane — who<br />

follows the IAS (Princeton) model. A number of eminent<br />

scientists have worked for IHES such as Alexander<br />

Grothendieck, Jean Dieudonné, René Thom, etc. and their<br />

influence on the IHES is substantial and serves as a magnet<br />

to attract scientists to come to IHES. This can be seen as<br />

a good option for the VIASM in the future.<br />

Professor R Fefferman talked about “Some factors that<br />

have influenced the History of <strong>Mathematics</strong> in the United


M Kashiwara, N B Chau, T V Nhung, J P Bourguignon and R Fefferman<br />

States” and looked at the development of mathematics in<br />

Vietnam from a different perspective.<br />

In all these speeches, international scientists have<br />

expressed their pleasure on the establishment of VIASM,<br />

and wished that the Institute would gain early success.<br />

They also expressed support and collaboration in the<br />

future.<br />

In his congratulatory speech, the Deputy Prime<br />

Minister, Professor Nguyễn Thiện Nhân recalled some<br />

important milestones in the drafting process of NPDM<br />

and the establishment of VIASM. He indicated that, in<br />

the context of the world economic recession in general<br />

and Vietnam in particular, the establishment of VIASM<br />

showed the strong support and care of the Vietnam<br />

government in developing mathematics. To implement<br />

the NPDM, the government expects the Institute and in<br />

particular, Professor Ngô Bảo Châu to take the leading<br />

role and act as the engine for a sustainable development<br />

Lê Tuấn Hoa<br />

VIASM, Vietnam<br />

of mathematics in Vietnam as well as further contribution<br />

to the national development. In this way the VIASM<br />

can contribute to the empowerment of mathematics in<br />

Vietnam in the international arena. The Deputy Prime<br />

Minister also assured that the government will grant the<br />

high autonomy to VIASM and Professor Ngô Bảo Châu<br />

and will provide the most favourable conditions to support<br />

their activities. He also called on international scientists<br />

to help VIASM.<br />

Professor Ngô Bảo Châu said at the ceremonoy:<br />

“The idea of building an institute for advanced study<br />

in Vietnam, similar to those in developed countries, is<br />

great. However it would not have become true without<br />

the support from the government, the Ministry of<br />

Education and Training, Ministry of Science and<br />

Technology and other relevant ministries; neither could<br />

it fulfill its role in developing mathematics and science<br />

in Vietnam without the support of the Vietnamese<br />

scientific community as well as the cooperation of the<br />

international scientific community.”<br />

L T Hoa is a professor at the Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> Hanoi (IMH) of the Vietnamese<br />

Academy of Sciences and Technology, Managing Director of the Vietnam Institute for<br />

Advanced Study in <strong>Mathematics</strong> (VIASM), President of the Vietnam Mathematical Society<br />

(VMS) for the term 2008–2013 and President of the South East Asian Mathematical Society<br />

(SEAMS) for the term 2012–2013. He graduated in Belorussia and obtained his PhD in<br />

1990 at University of Halle, Germany and Doctor of Science in 1995 at the IMH. He<br />

joined IMH in 1981, where he served as a Deputy-Director from 1998 to May 2011. His<br />

research areas include Commutative Algebra, Algebraic Geometry and Combinatorics.<br />

He was elected a TWAS Fellow in November 2011.<br />

Trần Văn Nhung<br />

The State Council for Professor Promotion, Vietnam<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Founded 2011<br />

Ministry of Education and Training<br />

Address: 7th Ministry of Education and Training<br />

Address: 7 Floor Ta Quang Buu Library<br />

In the Campus of Hanoi University of Science and<br />

Technology; 1 Dai Co Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam<br />

Tel: (0084)-4-36231542; Fax: (0084)-4-36231543<br />

http://www.viasm.edu.vn<br />

Trần Văn Nhung graduated from Vietnam National University (VNU), obtained his PhD<br />

in <strong>Mathematics</strong> in 1982 and Doctor of Science in 1990 at the Hungarian Academy of<br />

Sciences, Budapest. He is a professor of mathematics at the VNU since 1992. His research<br />

area is the Stability Theory of Dynamical Systems and Applications. He was the Vice-<br />

President of the Vietnam Mathematical Society during 1995–2004 and Deputy Minister<br />

of Education and Training of Vietnam from 2001 to 2008. He is currently the General<br />

Secretary of the State Council for Professor Promotion in Vietnam, and President of the<br />

Vietnam-Australia Friendship Association.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 23


24<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Interview with Srinivasa Varadhan<br />

Srinivasa Varadhan<br />

Srinivasa Varadhan, known also as Raghu to<br />

friends, was born in Chennai (previously Madras)<br />

in 1940. He completed his PhD in 1963 in the<br />

Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Calcutta, and has been<br />

in Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences since<br />

1963. An internationally renowned probabilist, he was<br />

awarded the Abel Prize in 2007 and was honoured with<br />

the National Medal of Science by President Obama in<br />

2010. Sujatha Ramdorai followed up an e-interview<br />

with a free wheeling conversation in Chennai on<br />

January 10, 2012, where he spoke on subjects ranging<br />

from his career and mathematics to science education<br />

and mathematical talent in Asia.<br />

Sujatha Ramdorai: Congratulations on being<br />

awarded the National Medal of Science. I know that<br />

this comes after various other honours, including of<br />

course, the Abel Prize, so there might be an element<br />

of having got used to such events. Still, what were<br />

your feelings when you heard the news and when you<br />

actually received the medal from President Obama?<br />

Srinivasa Varadhan: It is always gratifying to be<br />

recognised for something that one has done. I was<br />

happy for myself as well as for my family, especially for<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

January 10, 2012<br />

R Sujatha<br />

my seven-year-old grandson, Gavin, who was thrilled<br />

to attend the function and meet President Obama. It<br />

was a graceful affair and the agencies of the government<br />

that ran it did a wonderful job.<br />

SR: The article that appeared in a leading Indian news<br />

magazine, Frontline, after you won the Abel Prize,<br />

generated a lot of interest in India (http://frontlineonnet.com/fl2407/stories/20070420001909700.<br />

htm). I would like to dwell in detail on some<br />

aspects mentioned there .... For instance, the article<br />

talks about your father and his other student V S<br />

Varadarajan .... Can you tell us a little more about<br />

your childhood, the environment at home, your<br />

schooling, etc.<br />

SV: Varadarajan’s father and my father knew each other<br />

professionally as they were both in the field of education,<br />

but V S Varadarajan was never a student of my father.<br />

We grew up in different towns. My father was a science<br />

teacher and became a headmaster at some point. He<br />

was in the district school system and was transferred<br />

periodically to different towns within Chingleput<br />

district, which surrounds the city of Chennai. I was<br />

the only child and grew up without the company of<br />

any siblings. But we had a close extended family and<br />

always visited or were visited by many cousins from<br />

both sides during vacation time. I am still close to my<br />

cousins and keep in touch with them. My schooling was<br />

always following my father around. These small towns<br />

had only one school and my father was the headmaster. I<br />

had no choice but to go to that school. Being connected<br />

had some privileges but also some pitfalls. Any mischief<br />

in class was quickly reported! I was a good student in<br />

mathematics. But I did not like memorising facts, a skill<br />

that was needed in other subjects like history or biology.<br />

I did very well in mathematics but was only reasonably<br />

good in other subjects.<br />

SR: And your college years, and your entry into<br />

Indian Statistical Institute (ISI)? The ISI is now<br />

getting special attention and funds from the Indian


government in recent years and has been declared<br />

an institution of national importance. What was it<br />

like to be at ISI in the early 1960s?<br />

SV: In those times, we had two years of “intermediate”<br />

before becoming an undergraduate. It used to be<br />

(11+2+2) for a degree and (11+2+3) for an honours<br />

degree that automatically gave you a MA degree instead<br />

of a BA. After 11 years of school, in 1954, I had to<br />

go and stay with my uncle in Tambaram, since there<br />

were no colleges near Ponneri, about 20 miles north of<br />

Chennai, where my father was the headmaster of the<br />

high school. Just when I finished my “intermediate”,<br />

my father retired from this position in 1956. He then<br />

moved to Tambaram, where his brother, whom I had<br />

stayed with, had a home. My father built a house and<br />

settled down there. He worked as the headmaster for<br />

three more years at a local high school in Tambaram<br />

before retiring in 1959. I did very well in mathematics,<br />

physics and chemistry but performed only above<br />

average in languages. I had taken Tamil as my language<br />

and it was a high level programme involving classical<br />

literature. Whereas students taking French or Sanskrit<br />

started at a low level and could easily get a high score<br />

in the examinations. Since these scores were used to<br />

determine admission in the undergraduate or honours<br />

degree programme, these students had an advantage<br />

over those who took other (vernacular Indian)<br />

languages like Tamil, Telugu, or Hindi. I wanted to<br />

do an honours programme that consisted of a small<br />

class of 10–15 students and got special attention from<br />

the departments. I tried to get admitted to physics,<br />

chemistry and statistics programmes that were offered<br />

at three different colleges in Chennai. Competition for<br />

admission was tough, I was admitted into the statistics<br />

programme, but was denied admission to chemistry.<br />

I took statistics before the physics situation was still<br />

up in the air. Once you accepted one programme,<br />

your application to other programmes would not be<br />

considered seriously. I really enjoyed my three years<br />

at Presidency college. I commuted from home for one<br />

year and joined the hostel for the last two years. Our<br />

class had 13 students. We were a very close knit group<br />

and stayed together for every class for three years. 11<br />

of us are still living and we still keep in touch and meet<br />

each other when we get a chance.<br />

I did very well in the honours programme. There<br />

was only a year of English and no other language<br />

requirements. We studied only mathematics and<br />

statistics. It all came very easily. I could just take the<br />

examinations with no special preparation and did not<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

have to work very hard. After completing my honours<br />

programme, my family wanted me to compete for the<br />

Indian Administrative Service (IAS). I was more interested<br />

in studying statistics and working in an industry.<br />

In fact, I was too young to sit for the IAS exam and so I<br />

convinced my parents I would try to do research for a<br />

couple of years and would sit for the IAS when I became<br />

eligible. So I took the exam for ISI and was taken as a<br />

research scholar.<br />

My initial choice was to do industrial statistics,<br />

so I was put in touch with a faculty member who did<br />

that. I struggled for a few months. It did not appeal to<br />

me as something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.<br />

It was then that I met Parthasarathy and Ranga Rao<br />

(although I met V S Varadarajan as well but he left for<br />

the USA within a few months) and that changed my<br />

life. I started learning some modern mathematics. My<br />

training so far had been mainly in classical analysis. We<br />

started working on a couple of problems on subjects we<br />

thought would be interesting and went ahead. Those<br />

were exciting times.<br />

ISI was run like a family enterprise. Mahalanobis<br />

was the titular head. But the rumour was that it was<br />

Rani (his wife) who really ran it! Dr Rao was the head of<br />

the scientific staff. He would have to listen to Professor<br />

(as Mahalanobis was referred to), but would not always<br />

opt to follow it. We were protected by Dr Rao from the<br />

Professor who could sometimes act in strange ways and<br />

was not too fond of abstract <strong>Mathematics</strong>. But we were<br />

left free to work on what we wanted. Dr Rao would<br />

listen to what we were doing, and encourage us. We felt<br />

very well-supported by the Institution. However, one<br />

big disadvantage was Calcutta, especially Baranagar,<br />

where ISI was located, was an area that was totally<br />

inaccessible from other attractive parts of the city. It was<br />

congested, dirty and chaotic. We, especially those from<br />

the south (of India), could not think of raising a family<br />

there. Later, the Institute built apartments for the faculty<br />

members. But it could not ease the sense of isolation.<br />

One serious problem with ISI then, perhaps even<br />

now, is the large number of support staff compared to<br />

faculty and research staff. As part of the Marxist ethos,<br />

everybody is a worker. The workers are unionised and<br />

there have been too many confrontations. But scientifically,<br />

it was very interesting with a constant stream of<br />

distinguished visitors who would come and spend a<br />

few weeks. There were lectures by visitors as well as<br />

ample opportunities for young scholars to meet them<br />

informally during tea sessions that took place twice a<br />

day, at 11.30 am and 3.30 pm respectively. The senior<br />

faculty was always around.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 25


26<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

The Institute also had J B S Haldane, who was literally<br />

a towering figure with a cigar in his mouth. He was<br />

always at the tea sessions and had interesting things to<br />

say about almost everything.<br />

SR: This four year programme is being reintroduced<br />

in some selected institutions in India, and there are<br />

mixed feelings ....<br />

SV: Even in those times, the honours programme was<br />

selective and tightly regulated, in the sense that only<br />

a few selected institutions were granted permission to<br />

start these programmes.<br />

SR: You got your PhD degree at a relatively young<br />

age (23 years old). Kolmogorov was one of your<br />

thesis examiners and wrote a glowing report ....<br />

SV: He visited the Institute in 1962 for about six weeks.<br />

He spent three weeks in Calcutta and then we travelled<br />

with him from Calcutta to Bhubaneshwar, Waltair,<br />

Chennai, Bangalore, and Cochin where he took a ship<br />

back to Russia. He was one of the three examiners for<br />

my thesis. I gave a talk on my thesis when he was in<br />

Calcutta. I talked for too long. The audience became<br />

restless and some left immediately before Kolmogorov,<br />

who stood up to comment, could speak. He threw<br />

down the chalk and marched out angrily. My immediate<br />

reaction was “there goes my PhD”. A group of us<br />

followed him to his room and I apologised profusely<br />

for talking too long. His response was “I am used to<br />

long seminars in Moscow. But when Kolomogorov<br />

wants to speak, people should listen.” Anyway he took<br />

my thesis and went home. There was no response<br />

for several months. Then K R Parthasarathy went<br />

to Moscow and he was given the responsibility of<br />

nudging him, which he did. A report came some time<br />

later, in time for me to graduate in 1963. Although it<br />

was confidential and written in Russian, there was an<br />

English translation and I got to see it. He had said some<br />

nice things and ended with something like how I was<br />

someone “towards whose future the country can look<br />

forward with pride and hope”.<br />

SR: Can you reminisce a little about the mathematical<br />

scene in the country at that period? There<br />

was ISI and of course, there was Tata Institute of<br />

Fundamental Research (TIFR). People in these<br />

institutions were doing tremendous work that made<br />

the world sit up and take notice of mathematics<br />

research emerging from India.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

SV: Those days there was only one Indian Institute of<br />

Technology (IIT). The best minds went to pure sciences<br />

and mathematics. There was no computer science, not<br />

much to speak of. The honours programme to which<br />

only the best of the two year “intermediate” students<br />

were admitted was a magnet that attracted the very<br />

best. They were small classes and the programmes with<br />

a major and often a minor offered with limited number<br />

of seats in selected colleges produced a good group of<br />

graduates. Many went into IAS and other government<br />

services and many went into research, at ISI and TIFR<br />

as well as a few other places. The attraction of IITs and<br />

the abolition of the honours programme destroyed<br />

this source.<br />

Srinivasa Varadhan and R Sujatha<br />

SR: Today, mathematics is establishing connections<br />

with a variety of subjects ranging from physics to<br />

economics; how do you think mathematics education<br />

should reflect this trend?<br />

SV: In general, I feel that it is not a good idea to give<br />

students a time table; be told what they should do ....<br />

For example, majoring in physics; it should involve a<br />

few core courses and a wider choice of auxiliary courses<br />

that should include areas in which one is not majoring;<br />

a broad perspective is needed for a human being. An<br />

economic major or history major knowing how the<br />

human body works is not a bad idea ....<br />

SR: The Abel Prize citation notes that “Art of large<br />

deviations is to calculate the probability of rare<br />

events ...”. When did you actually start working<br />

on this theory that you and others have now built<br />

up as an edifice of depth, awe and great beauty in<br />

mathematics?<br />

SV: To me, beauty in mathematics comes from unification<br />

and simplicity. When a simple underlying idea


can explain many complex things, it is almost like<br />

watching a magic show. When Cramer started on<br />

large deviations, he wanted to derive precise estimates<br />

on the probability of some rare events for use in the<br />

insurance industry. He showed us how to do it. Then<br />

Donsker had an idea of how some function space<br />

integrals can be estimated through what we would now<br />

call large deviation ideas. But it was slowly dawning<br />

on me that entropy controlled all large deviations.<br />

Almost all large deviations are shadows of “entropy”,<br />

and although the shadow may not immediately reveal<br />

what is behind it, we can now perceive it. I started<br />

working on problems in the area from 1963 when<br />

I came to Courant. I rediscovered in my own terms<br />

what people had done before, and ideas have come<br />

from statistics, thermodynamics, convex analysis,<br />

combinatorics as well as coding and information<br />

theory. It took me several years before I could fully<br />

understand the beautiful structure behind it all and<br />

the role played by entropy in creating it!<br />

SR: This brings me back to the earlier comment<br />

on connections. Can you talk a little on how you<br />

came to recognise all these ideas as being linked to<br />

entropy? Was the ISI background helpful in this? Or<br />

did you embark on a whole new journey of discovery<br />

in Courant?<br />

SV: I had learnt a little bit of information theory in ISI<br />

thanks to K R Parthasarathy, whose thesis was on this.<br />

When you do Cramer’s theorem, entropy is hidden, you<br />

do not see it. But when you do Sanov’s theorem, you<br />

see it; it is not very different from Cramer’s theorem<br />

and entropy is much more evident there. You work on<br />

a special case, and do some more examples, then do<br />

the general case; and you see a pattern emerging. It is<br />

also partly because of how I came to do these problems.<br />

The way I came about it was thinking about specific<br />

questions, trying to understand how large deviation<br />

methods could be applied, and then seeing the larger<br />

picture and the underlying unity .... I did not do things<br />

the other way round; that is reading all about large<br />

deviations and applying them. I am not a good reader;<br />

I like to work on problems and to learn and develop<br />

the theory as I go along.<br />

SR: Were there any clear tipping points or turning<br />

points in your research career? Any “eureka” moments?<br />

SV: Every problem has a “eureka” moment. A problem<br />

you can solve right away is not fun. It must be a tough<br />

nut to crack. Like putting a big puzzle together. You<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

have a vague idea of how to solve it and face many<br />

hurdles. Finally after a long time and many attempts,<br />

the last one is overcome. That is a “eureka” moment. It<br />

has happened many times.<br />

SR: Probability is now a branch of mathematics<br />

that straddles different areas within and outside of<br />

mathematics. It has enormous applications, yet is<br />

recognised within the pure mathematical firmament<br />

.... Would you like to share your views on this and<br />

talk a little about its evolution in broad terms?<br />

SV: After Kolmogorov axiomatised probability in the<br />

1930s, it is now viewed as a branch of analysis. But it<br />

brings to analysis and to mathematics, a point of view<br />

and intuition that comes from the use of randomness<br />

in many other different areas like statistics, computer<br />

science, physics, etc. As more and more of these connections<br />

are revealed the importance of probability within<br />

mathematics has grown. These are links that have made<br />

it more central.<br />

SR: What are your views on the perceived dichotomy<br />

between pure and applied mathematics?<br />

SV: I would like to argue that there is no such thing as<br />

pure or applied mathematics. There is just mathematics.<br />

Would you call algebra or number theory pure or<br />

applied?<br />

SR: I was raised in a culture to believe they are “pure”.<br />

SV: But they are being applied today in so many<br />

different areas.<br />

SR: (Laughing) True! But pure mathematicians<br />

rarely understand how or even think it is worth<br />

their while to do so.<br />

SV: That is a pity! You don’t have to go into details but<br />

it would be good to try and get a vague idea.<br />

SR: Of course, probability also got into the public<br />

lexicon due to its connections to mathematical finance<br />

and the recession. What are your views on this?<br />

SV: Probability is a mathematical tool. You can compute<br />

probabilities from a model. The answers you get are only<br />

as good as the model. The financial meltdown is probably<br />

more likely due to greed and incorrect modelling.<br />

SR: Another phrase that is part of this lexicon is the<br />

“Black Swan” phenomenon. How would you view<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 27


28<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

it from the prism of the theory of large deviations?<br />

SV: I have not read the book. Rare events do occur<br />

every day. Someone always wins a lottery!<br />

SR: You have been in the Courant Institute since<br />

1963. How would you compare the research environment<br />

there at that time to your prior experience in<br />

India? Were there times when you thought about<br />

returning to India or building stronger links with<br />

institutions in India?<br />

SV: In 1963, Courant Institute was the Mecca of PDE<br />

and applied mathematics. Many people in these areas<br />

passed through Courant every year for a few days. We<br />

had Kurt Friedrichs, Fritz John, James Stoker, Peter<br />

Lax, Louis Nirenberg, Jurgen Moser, Joseph Keller and<br />

Monroe Donsker all under one roof. There were 50<br />

visitors on any given day, with about 30 visiting for the<br />

whole year. There were half a dozen seminars on any<br />

given day. I had not seen such an active place before<br />

and it was a shock. It was also a bit intimidating and I<br />

was not totally confident that I would succeed in this<br />

research career. The idea of going back was initially<br />

there. My original plan was to return after three years,<br />

but I married Vasu after one year and had to wait for<br />

four years for her to get her degree from NYU, and<br />

then we had our first son. By this time, I had been here<br />

for six years and was an associate professor. Going<br />

back to India, particularly to Calcutta, was not that<br />

attractive. Ranga Rao, Varadarajan and Parthasarathy<br />

had left. NYU and Courant seemed much more<br />

convenient.<br />

Sometimes I do wonder what would have happened<br />

if I had gone back. I had always profited by interacting<br />

with others in different areas, often looking at the same<br />

thing with different perspectives. Would that have<br />

continued in India? I am not sure.<br />

SR: I would like to turn now to your recent connections<br />

to India. In the last decade, you have been<br />

closely associated with Chennai Mathematical<br />

Institute (CMI) and in recent years with the Infosys<br />

Foundation. Please tell us about this.<br />

SV: Even though I have settled down in the US, I have<br />

strong family ties to Chennai. While my parents were<br />

alive, I would visit India every few months. I had kept<br />

in touch with the Institute of Mathematical Sciences<br />

(Matscience, Chennai), even before Seshadri came<br />

there (in the early 1980s). Then Southern Petroleum<br />

Industries Corporation (SPIC; which funded a<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

mathematics research Institute in Chennai) was<br />

started and then evolved into CMI. As for Infosys, it<br />

is a great idea to award significant prizes in different<br />

areas of science every year. It is good that it is done<br />

by a private foundation rather that the government.<br />

When the Infosys foundation asked for my help in<br />

the selection process in the mathematics category, I<br />

was happy to do it.<br />

SR: What are your views on the state of higher<br />

education and research in India? A SWOT analysis.<br />

SV: We do a great job training professionals, especially<br />

doctors and engineers. We do not do such a good job<br />

in mathematics and perhaps in some other sciences<br />

as well. The universities for the most part, leave<br />

undergraduate teaching to affiliated colleges where the<br />

quality is uneven.<br />

Science education suffers due to lack of quality<br />

faculties. The best brains are drawn into IIT medical<br />

schools and Indian Institute of Management (IIM)<br />

which lead to financially rewarding careers. In mathematics,<br />

a country like ours needs to produce good<br />

PhDs, be aware of the current ongoing work in large<br />

numbers like a few hundreds. We are nowhere near it<br />

now. We do not have enough people to act as mentors.<br />

What is more serious, we do not seem to have a plan<br />

(I hope I am wrong) of how to achieve it.<br />

SR: You are aware that fewer students are pursuing<br />

the pure sciences in India than before. The perception<br />

is that research and an academic career are the<br />

only possibilities if one is interested in mathematics.<br />

SV: This has to be changed. One of the things I<br />

remember while I joined Courant was a small booklet<br />

“Careers in <strong>Mathematics</strong>” which had interviews with a<br />

wide range of people, not necessarily academics, who<br />

were using mathematics in different careers. We need<br />

such awareness. There are expanding opportunities<br />

for mathematicians, which should be compiled in an<br />

attractive booklet and circulated widely maybe among<br />

undergraduates and maybe even in high school.<br />

SR: Can you share your experiences in working and<br />

collaborating with others? One other quality that<br />

people never fail to mention is your generosity in<br />

sharing insights and ideas with others.<br />

SV: I enjoy thinking about mathematical problems. It is<br />

a challenge. It is fun to share it with someone. Collaborating<br />

with someone can be a rewarding experience.


The other person often has a different perspective and<br />

there are constant discussions back and forth. I have<br />

worked with many different people and it has always<br />

been a rewarding experience.<br />

SR: Are there any lessons we should be learning<br />

from the way things are done in other parts of the<br />

world? There is a change globally in the way research<br />

was done in the second half of the last decade, and<br />

now. Many Asian nations are emerging as forces to<br />

reckon with ... yet.<br />

SV: India seems to be far from making the big leap.<br />

Unfortunately, education in India has become too<br />

politicised. States are in charge of higher education.<br />

They run the universities with a political perspective<br />

rather than a scientific one. Colleges mushroom with<br />

no checks on the quality of the personnel or facilities.<br />

Some of them are run purely for the financial<br />

gain of the investor. While a few Indian Institute<br />

of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and<br />

National Institute of Science Education and Research<br />

(NISERs) are doing an excellent job, they can only<br />

make a small dent in the huge need for good quality<br />

higher education.<br />

R Sujatha<br />

University of British Columbia, Canada<br />

sujatha@math.ubc.ca<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

When I was a graduate student in Calcutta, there<br />

were many students from Southeast Asia who were<br />

taught in ISI. Students from Vietnam, Korea and<br />

Japan have done well while there are occasionally good<br />

students from the Philippines as well. The training in<br />

mathematics is not consistent as can be seen in Iran.<br />

It would be good if countries such as China, India,<br />

Japan and Korea collaborate to rise the standard of<br />

mathematics training in other Asian countries. Students<br />

coming to Courant are among the best. There are also<br />

a lot of students from South America, Europe and<br />

China. The students, including those from India, are<br />

very well-prepared.<br />

SR: You are said to be deeply influenced by the<br />

Tiruppavai (devotional poems in Tamil, composed<br />

by Andal, a famous woman poet of the 8th century).<br />

Is it the poetry? Or the depth in its interpretation?<br />

SV: I like Tamil poetry in general. I studied the language<br />

in school and college. I enjoy music as well. Thiruppavai<br />

embodies a nice combination. I would not say I was<br />

deeply influenced by it.<br />

SR: Thank you so much! It has been a great pleasure<br />

doing this interview with you.<br />

Sujatha Ramdorai is currently holding a Canada Research Chair at University<br />

of British Columbia. She was a Professor of <strong>Mathematics</strong> at Tata Institute of<br />

Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bombay, India. Her research interests are in the<br />

areas of Iwasawa theory and the categories of motives. She served as a Member<br />

of the National Knowledge Commission of India from 2007 to 2009.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 29


30<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Gustav Lehrer<br />

Interview with Gus Lehrer<br />

January 9, 2012, University of Melbourne<br />

“I am firmly convinced that mathematical thinking can<br />

be taught, just like reading and writing. Of course, not<br />

everyone who learns English will be able to write like<br />

William Shakespeare, and likewise not everyone will be<br />

able to do research in mathematics. But people need to<br />

appreciate that they actually do mathematical thinking<br />

every day, mostly without realising it.”<br />

Introduction: Gustav Isaac Lehrer was born in Munich,<br />

Germany, on January 18, 1947, and migrated to Sydney,<br />

Australia, with his parents at the age of three. He is<br />

an algebraist at the University of Sydney, where he<br />

has worked for most of his career since returning to<br />

Australia from the UK, in 1974, after his PhD and<br />

postdoctoral work. From mid 1996 to mid 1998, he<br />

was the Director of the Centre for <strong>Mathematics</strong> and<br />

its Applications at the Australian National University.<br />

Gus is particularly well known for developing, with<br />

Bob Howlett, a branch of representation theory known<br />

today as Howlett–Lehrer theory, which has found<br />

application in several different areas of mathematics.<br />

Another highlight of his work is his study of the<br />

geometry of configurations of points, using algebraic<br />

geometry to relate continuous and discrete approaches<br />

to the problem. With his former student, John Graham,<br />

he also invented cellular algebras, which are now used<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Peter Hall<br />

in the theory of quantum groups and related topics,<br />

and form a link between mathematics and physics.<br />

These very considerable research contributions, and<br />

others, led to his election to the Australian Academy<br />

of Science in 1998.<br />

In Australia, Gus is also well known for his efforts<br />

to maintain high standards in research in pure mathematics.<br />

In this connection, among others, his leadership<br />

in developing international linkages is widely<br />

appreciated. He served a term on the mathematics<br />

grant-awarding panel of the Australian Research<br />

Council (ARC), the main Australian research granting<br />

agency, and is well placed to comment on their activities<br />

in mathematics. He is also keen to make the wider<br />

community aware of the advantages of mathematical<br />

thinking. In this regard the quotation at the head of<br />

this interview is pertinent; it came from Gus during<br />

this interview.<br />

Peter Hall: Thank you, Gus, for taking time out for<br />

this interview. I’d like to begin by going back to your<br />

very early life, and especially the lives of your mother<br />

and father, who must have been affected profoundly<br />

by the wartime horrors of Europe.<br />

Gus Lehrer: My parents were both survivors of the<br />

Holocaust. My father, who had been born in Stryj, in<br />

the region of Gallicia in south-east Poland (now in<br />

Ukraine), hid from the Nazis for 14 months, in an attic<br />

in Stryj. In fact, this is how he met his future wife, who<br />

was also brought to hide there. However, not many<br />

Jews survived the Nazi occupation, and my mother and<br />

father lost all their family members in the Holocaust.<br />

It should be remembered that Polish Jews, such as<br />

my mother and father, had been suffering under repressive<br />

laws for a considerable period prior to the war. In<br />

particular, they were effectively not allowed to own<br />

land or have government jobs. This led to an attitude<br />

of keeping your head down, and not seeking fame or<br />

glory, which I inherited from my parents.<br />

Immediately after the war, my parents were in<br />

Germany as “Displaced Persons”. At the time of my<br />

birth, my father had TB, my mother had typhoid fever,<br />

and they contemplated giving me up for adoption,


ecause they feared they could not look after me.<br />

However, things improved, and the three of us arrived<br />

in Fremantle, Australia, on Melbourne Cup Day in<br />

1950. My parents initially wanted to migrate to the USA,<br />

but my father’s history of TB made this impossible.<br />

We had a sponsor from Sydney, who had wisely come<br />

to Australia from Poland in 1937, so we continued<br />

on the boat until it reached Sydney. Nevertheless, my<br />

first memory of Australia is from Fremantle, and was<br />

particularly auspicious: When we disembarked there,<br />

a woman walked up to me out of the crowd, and gave<br />

me an ice-cream.<br />

My father had had a brother, executed by the Nazis<br />

in 1942, who had completed medical studies in Bologna<br />

because of the Polish “numerus clausus” policy, under<br />

which Jews were not permitted to study many subjects<br />

at Polish universities. My father would probably also<br />

have done medicine, but because of the intervention<br />

of the war, he was taught by the Russians during their<br />

occupation of Poland how to run a shoe factory. He<br />

had no experience of shoe-making, but in wartime the<br />

Russians had a great need of shoes. His parents had<br />

been business people, and with this background, and<br />

his experience running a shoe factory, he took the first<br />

available opportunity to go into business in Australia.<br />

(For almost the first two years he worked here on a<br />

telephone assembly line.) He eventually built the business<br />

into a successful textile manufacturing operation.<br />

My mother came from a musical family and had<br />

studied opera singing in Lvov (then in Poland, now in<br />

Ukraine). She was very accomplished, and earned most<br />

of the family income in Germany by singing Schubert<br />

Lieder on Süd-West Rundfunk in Germany between<br />

1945 and 1947. When my father started in business, she<br />

worked for several years in garment making, leading a<br />

small team of workers, and often spending 16 hours a<br />

day at the machines.<br />

My family’s friends in Sydney had mostly been<br />

members of left-wing Jewish youth groups in Europe,<br />

before migrating to Australia. They didn’t provide us<br />

with much material help, but their sponsorship of<br />

our family, which meant that they undertook to take<br />

responsibility for us in the event of misfortune, was<br />

critical.<br />

In 1957 and 1960 my two sisters were born. My<br />

mother became a carer for them, and took up singing<br />

again. She was on the Elizabethan Theatre Trust for<br />

many years. Both sisters completed arts degrees, both<br />

have three children, and both inherited what I might call<br />

my father’s “imaginative approach to life”— Elisabeth,<br />

the older sister, went on to take a course in acupuncture,<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

and Carolyn is a successful sculptor. Earlier, Elisabeth<br />

taught English and History at school. Carolyn started<br />

her family soon after finishing her degree.<br />

PH: Your family was uprooted by the war, and<br />

moved to the other side of the world. It must have<br />

been especially traumatic for you as a child. Can<br />

you tell us something of your early life?<br />

GL: After a brief period in a migrant hostel, our family<br />

managed to rent an apartment in the Sydney suburb of<br />

Maroubra. I was first sent off to a boarding school at<br />

the age of five. It was a rather brutal institution where<br />

the whole day was spent idly rolling tyres around and<br />

playing. Luckily I could read German, so I was able to<br />

pick up reading and writing essentially without tuition.<br />

A year later, I was sent to Maroubra Bay Public School,<br />

of which I have mixed memories. In the 1950s, Australia<br />

was not a very hospitable place for “refos” (“refugees”),<br />

and although there were some other refugees at the<br />

school, on the whole, we were not well treated, with<br />

some teachers being notable exceptions. I recall new<br />

immigrant children being ridiculed by the class, led<br />

by the teacher, for their poor accent, when they had<br />

recently arrived in the country.<br />

The wartime experiences of my family, and the<br />

challenges that they faced in Australia, had inevitably<br />

left me with a feeling of insecurity, or lack of self confidence.<br />

For all these reasons I was a very poor student<br />

at primary school, even to the point of playing truant<br />

often. I was a good friend of the boy at the bottom of<br />

the class. However, because IQ tests were still being<br />

used to allocate students to classes, I was always placed<br />

in the top stream, and in the 6th (and last) primary<br />

school grade, I had my first positive intellectual experience<br />

with an enlightened teacher who showed some<br />

understanding of my social problems.<br />

I found myself selected to go to Sydney Boys High<br />

School, where I was placed in the top class. This was a<br />

revelation for me, because at that time there was a very<br />

hierarchical selectivity, and Sydney High took the best<br />

students from a very large catchment area. I recall that<br />

in the final school exams, 19 of our top class of 27 were<br />

in the top 100 in the state. The quality and nature of the<br />

teaching was something quite new to me, and it was<br />

there that I discovered I had a special affinity for mathematics.<br />

I had two particularly inspirational teachers,<br />

Geoff Ball, later a colleague at Sydney University, and<br />

John Harrison.<br />

PH: You recovered remarkably well from the challenges<br />

of your early years at school. Did you go<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 31


32<br />

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Peter Hall and Gustav Lehrer<br />

directly from Sydney Boys High to university?<br />

GL: Yes, I entered Sydney University, in the Faculty of<br />

Medicine. I was just 16, and mathematics had not yet<br />

occurred to me as a possible career. However, at that<br />

time I could do precisely the subjects I would have done<br />

if I had enrolled in Science with a view to studying<br />

mathematics. In my first year I went to lectures by T<br />

G Room, which I now realise were somewhat eclectic,<br />

disorganised and flawed in other ways. Nonetheless I<br />

found them inspiring; he covered many varied topics,<br />

including projective geometry, mathematical logic,<br />

spherical trigonometry, and topics in algebra and<br />

number theory. It was the sort of course which would<br />

today be given very poor ratings by students, but in<br />

my opinion is sorely missed. (Economic rationalism<br />

does not always lead to the optimal outcome in<br />

undergraduate teaching.) At the end of first year,<br />

although I had to forgo a prize for medicine, I decided<br />

to continue with mathematics in the faculty of science.<br />

It was in second year, when the courses were much<br />

more systematic, that I first had the inspiration that I<br />

might be able to organise and explain some material<br />

at least as well as the text books and lecturers; this led<br />

to the idea that mathematics might be a career option.<br />

I was influenced over the next three years by several of<br />

the mathematicians at Sydney University: Tim Wall,<br />

who taught me what abstract algebra really was, and<br />

gave some inspiring insights into Galois theory and<br />

algebraic number theory; Don Barnes, John Mack, and<br />

Bill Smith-White for his exceptionally lucid lectures on<br />

analysis, to which I was always attracted, even though<br />

it is not my speciality.<br />

PH: We had all those lecturers in common, although<br />

I was about six years behind you. Did you go straight<br />

into graduate work after finishing at Sydney?<br />

GL: Yes, after my Honours year I was awarded a DAAD<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

(Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholarship<br />

to Tübingen to study with H Wielandt, and also<br />

a Commonwealth Scholarship to Warwick, to study<br />

with J A (Sandy) Green. I decided to take up the latter.<br />

At Warwick, I entered a completely new world<br />

in 1968. Warwick was at the time new, having been<br />

founded in the early 1960s, but it had very entrepreneurial<br />

leadership from its Vice-Chancellor, (later<br />

Lord) Butterworth. He had managed to get Green and<br />

E C (Christopher) Zeeman to head up the new Mathematical<br />

Institute. They were undoubtedly among the<br />

top three algebraists (respectively, topologists) in the<br />

UK, and by the time I arrived at Warwick there were 70<br />

graduate students in pure mathematics, the largest pool<br />

in Europe. The students came from all over the world,<br />

and the institute ran a series of one-year symposia on<br />

various subjects, during which there was a Nuffield<br />

Professor appointed.<br />

Stephen Smale was the Nuffield professor when I<br />

arrived at Warwick. I remember particularly a year on<br />

algebraic geometry, during which David Mumford was<br />

the Nuffield Professor. I was influenced considerably by<br />

him in my studies of representation theory, in that he<br />

initiated discussions with me about potential links to<br />

geometry of my research project on the character theory<br />

of the special linear groups. The basic reference for my<br />

thesis was a seminal paper of Green on the general<br />

linear group, dating back to 1954. It was then regarded<br />

as a nice piece of work appreciated by specialists; it<br />

is now recognised as one of the masterpieces of the<br />

last century. People do not generally realise that I G<br />

Macdonald (who incidentally was my PhD examiner)<br />

wrote his famous book on symmetric functions because<br />

of Green’s paper, where “Green polynomials” were<br />

defined.<br />

As well as Mumford and Green, I was influenced<br />

by a statement made by the Oxford mathematician G<br />

Higman, who said that “the representation theory of<br />

the general linear groups must be rewritten by each<br />

generation in the idiom of the day”. This made me<br />

realise that there are certain mathematical themes<br />

which are “ubiquitous”, and it is a search for these<br />

that has guided my interests throughout my career.<br />

Thus, although I have not been much concerned with<br />

practical applications, I have always paid attention to<br />

the range of applicability of a set of ideas. For example,<br />

permutations occur everywhere, so the representation<br />

theory of the symmetric groups is “fundamental”;<br />

similarly, linear transformations and the general<br />

linear group; and again, spaces of configurations of<br />

distinct points occur everywhere (and are linked to


the above topics).<br />

I finished my thesis on the special linear groups<br />

(matrices of determinant one) early in 1971. In it, I gave<br />

one of the early expositions of Harish-Chandra theory<br />

for a reductive group over a finite field. However I did<br />

not solve the problem completely, and am proud to<br />

report that it is still open to this day, not having yielded<br />

to the beautiful geometric methods developed for the<br />

general case, because there are significant arithmetical<br />

complications, which have not been completely solved,<br />

although the “character sheaves” of Lusztig make<br />

inroads to the problem.<br />

PH: The mathematics research environment at<br />

Warwick was obviously very unlike the much more<br />

measured one in Australia in those days. Was it<br />

all work?<br />

GL: No, not quite! I played squash at county level, and I<br />

met my wife Nanna while I was a graduate student there.<br />

She is from Norway. After my PhD I took a “Postdoc”<br />

(then called a Junior Lectureship) at Warwick for one<br />

year, and a permanent job at Birmingham University,<br />

to wait for her to finish her course in physiotherapy. We<br />

married in 1974, on my return to Australia to a job at<br />

the University of Sydney, and we have three children<br />

and four grandchildren. Our eldest, Lisa, did a PhD at<br />

UBC (Canada) in mathematical logic, and works in<br />

the area of non-profit organisations and public health<br />

policy. The next in age, Alex, did an honours degree in<br />

chemical engineering, followed by a CFA (Chartered<br />

Financial Analyst) correspondence degree. He now<br />

runs the family businesses. Our youngest, Eddie, did<br />

Economics, and works at Macquarie Bank.<br />

I should add that the general UK mathematics environment<br />

at that time was not particularly encouraging.<br />

For example, the position I took at Birmingham was the<br />

only permanent job advertised, in pure mathematics in<br />

a UK university, during that year (1972–1973). Warwick<br />

was something of a mathematical oasis in the UK at<br />

that time.<br />

PH: Please tell us a little more of your mathematical<br />

life. How have the opportunities changed for<br />

Australian mathematicians since your return to<br />

Sydney?<br />

GL: It is a great irony that, in some sense, mathematics<br />

has never been healthier than now in Australia,<br />

although there are a great many challenges facing a<br />

young person commencing a career here. Today there<br />

are many Australian mathematicians at top institutions<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

around the world: Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge (UK),<br />

MIT, Stanford, Caltech, UCLA; and we have recently<br />

had our first Fields Medallist (Terry Tao). There are<br />

now numerous opportunities for young Australians to<br />

win research fellowships which relieve them of practical<br />

duties for several years, etc. Further, there are many<br />

opportunities for travel and to invite overseas visitors<br />

to Australia.<br />

However, the general environment in which young<br />

mathematicians work is much worse than when I began<br />

as a lecturer in mathematics at Sydney University in<br />

1974. The standard workload is much higher, particularly<br />

in view of the huge bureaucratic demands on all<br />

academics, and generally students come to university<br />

with much less preparation than previously. This is part<br />

of the “crisis” which has been highlighted in successive<br />

reviews of Australian mathematics. One of the perceptions<br />

which still seems to permeate the public’s thinking<br />

about mathematics is that it is not for everybody; this<br />

is one of the greatest challenges we face.<br />

Although Australia’s mathematical isolation has<br />

been reduced, there is still a danger that the value<br />

system applied to mathematical work in Australia is out<br />

of step with the world at large. This is partly because of<br />

our method of evaluating research, both by the ARC<br />

and elsewhere, involves many assessments by people<br />

without special expertise in the area concerned, principally<br />

because there is not enough expertise available<br />

here. This leads to the danger that subjects with low<br />

entry barriers will be more strongly promoted here<br />

than in a more competitive environment.<br />

An example is the relatively low representation<br />

of Australians in the rich field of algebraic geometry,<br />

which has flourished for the past 60 years, and is now<br />

enjoying renewed vigour through its connections<br />

with mathematical physics. This field, and topology,<br />

are under-represented in this country. Because of our<br />

small size, serious Australian mathematicians inevitably<br />

will be measuring themselves by the best international<br />

standards, and that means those at the best institutions,<br />

such as the ones mentioned above.<br />

I do believe that the primary focus in determining<br />

whether or not a certain mathematical enterprise<br />

should be supported should be on quality. <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

is about fundamental principles, their interaction,<br />

and applicability. In my experience at the ARC, and<br />

elsewhere, I have found that sometimes we are seduced<br />

by the false god of “applicability”. One of my favourite<br />

tests of the importance of a mathematical subject is its<br />

universality. That is, does the question arise in a variety<br />

of different contexts? This is what I believe to be the<br />

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type of applicability we should look for, rather than a<br />

more narrow view, based on traditional divisions into<br />

“pure” or “applied” mathematics.<br />

PH: Perhaps we can move the focus more sharply<br />

to your own contributions. Tell us something of the<br />

highlights of your own research career.<br />

GL: My research is in representation theory, which is a<br />

mathematical encoding of symmetry. Since symmetry<br />

is possibly the most important organising factor we<br />

use to understand the world, this field passes my<br />

“universality” test. Moreover, it may be studied in the<br />

context of different mathematical specialities: algebra,<br />

analysis, topology, geometry. Many people know that<br />

there are just three ways of covering the plane with<br />

regular polygons: triangles, squares and hexagons. A<br />

smaller number of people know that there are just<br />

five regular (real) polyhedra: the tetrahedron, cube,<br />

octahedron, icosahedron and duodecahedron. This<br />

reflects the fact that the “universe” permits only certain<br />

types of symmetry. The Lie groups, which are highly<br />

symmetrical “manifolds”, have been completely classified,<br />

and my research has been in areas of algebra,<br />

topology and geometry which relate to how these<br />

could conceivably appear in a context different from<br />

the one where they arise. That is, how can a Lie group<br />

be “represented”? When I began at Warwick there was<br />

an intense hunt on to find all the finite simple groups.<br />

Almost all of these are Lie groups over finite fields, but<br />

there is a finite number of “exceptional” ones, which<br />

were discovered over 50 years (one of them by Janko,<br />

in Melbourne in the early 1960s). There was intense<br />

interest in the problem of classifying all representations<br />

of the finite Lie groups, and my thesis was about one<br />

series of them.<br />

There had been developments in the “continuous”<br />

theory by Harish-Chandra from Princeton, and one of<br />

the guiding principles of the new algebraic geometry of<br />

Grothendieck is that such theories should be context<br />

free, so that the continuous and discrete theories<br />

should be essentially the same. So Tonny Springer<br />

(who, sadly, passed away last December) had adapted<br />

the Harish-Chandra theory to the finite field case, and<br />

come up with the notion of “cuspidal representations”<br />

(Harish-Chandra’s concept in the continuous case),<br />

and with the “decomposition problem” for induced<br />

cuspidal representations, which was explained to me<br />

by Steinberg in 1972 at Warwick.<br />

After my return to Australia, Green wrote to me<br />

saying that one of his former students had a student<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

in Adelaide who was working on these things. This<br />

turned out to be Bob Howlett, and together we solved<br />

Springer’s decomposition problem, and invented what<br />

is now known as “Howlett–Lehrer theory”. This is<br />

now applied in several different areas of mathematics.<br />

It is used for decomposing geometric objects called<br />

perverse sheaves, all wildly beyond what we had in<br />

mind when the work was done. The basic idea was<br />

to reduce a complicated problem (decomposition) to<br />

something known (the theory of Hecke algebras). This<br />

was the highlight of my career to that point. The general<br />

problem of constructing representations (in particular<br />

cuspidal ones) was solved by Deligne and Lusztig in<br />

their famous 1976 paper on finite reductive groups.<br />

This used the realisation of these groups in the context<br />

of algebraic geometry to construct geometrically spaces<br />

upon which they act. It is interesting that to this day,<br />

Howlett–Lehrer theory is still referred to regularly,<br />

and built upon.<br />

I have continued to think about problems in<br />

algebra, geometry and topology which arise from this<br />

fundamental context: What are all possible situations<br />

with given symmetry properties?<br />

The next highlight was again related to the general<br />

guiding principle of using algebraic geometry to<br />

relate the continuous to the discrete. An example of<br />

this principle is that the geometry of the complex<br />

solutions to the equation x 2 +y 2 = 1 should bear<br />

some relationship to the solutions of this equation in<br />

congruences modulo a prime number. In the process<br />

of studying some reflection group representations, I<br />

came upon the problem of determining the geometry<br />

of the space of configurations of n distinct points in<br />

the complex plane, encouraged by Lou Solomon of<br />

the University of Wisconsin at Madison. This problem<br />

has connections with knot theory, and is responsible<br />

for my interest in that subject. To my surprise, I found<br />

that this was an unsolved problem in topology, and I<br />

realised that algebraic geometric methods could be a<br />

key to the solution. Over the next 15 years I developed<br />

several approaches: analytic (using differential forms),<br />

topological (cohomology) and algebraic geometric, and<br />

this has been a very rich vein of research for me. I have<br />

collaborated with Mark Kisin on arithmetical aspects of<br />

the general theory, and with Alex Dimca on analytical<br />

geometric aspects.<br />

The other specific highlight I wish to mention is<br />

the invention of cellular algebras, with my former<br />

student, John Graham. This theory provides a means<br />

of “deforming” structures which split, to more complicated<br />

ones, which do not. It is a subject which has been


taken up in many centres, but I am extremely gratified<br />

that China is a great centre for the study of cellular<br />

algebras. Although it has probably not contributed<br />

much to Australia’s balance of payments, I daresay that<br />

cellular algebras are among our successful exports to<br />

China! They are now used in the theory of quantum<br />

groups and other areas, and thus form a link between<br />

mathematics and physics. I have just spent several<br />

weeks at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris with a<br />

group of physicists and mathematicians, discussing<br />

“spin chains” with the aid of cellular algebras.<br />

I cannot comment upon my research without saying<br />

how much fun I have had, and in particular, what an<br />

honour it has been to collaborate with fantastic people<br />

such as those mentioned above.<br />

PH: That’s fascinating, Gus. I wonder whether we<br />

could set these comments against a more general<br />

background, of how algebraic research has evolved<br />

during your career, and consider where it is going<br />

today.<br />

GL: <strong>Mathematics</strong> is, like all other fields of human<br />

endeavour, subject to fashions. In the 1950s it was<br />

quite acceptable to write papers proving obscure<br />

results of a very abstract nature, such as if a certain<br />

algebraic structure satisfies a certain (often large) set<br />

of properties, then it must belong to a specific (short)<br />

list of (known) structures. This period of extreme<br />

abstraction was spawned partly by the success of<br />

algebraic topology and algebraic number theory, and<br />

partly by the discovery of new simple groups through<br />

such “characterisation” results. But the balance swung<br />

too far, and over the first 10–15 years of my career<br />

there was a move towards papers discussing interesting<br />

examples — the opposite extreme of the totally<br />

abstract papers of the previous period.<br />

However, the fact that some of the most spectacular<br />

advances in representation theory were made by establishing<br />

very abstract “equivalences of categories” moved<br />

the pendulum back. For example, the Verma conjecture<br />

was a very specific statement about multiplicities of<br />

certain modules in the class of Verma modules; it stated<br />

what certain positive integers should be. It was first<br />

proved in the 1980s by Beilinson, Bernstein, Brylinsky<br />

and Kashiwara, by showing that a certain category of<br />

modules is equivalent to a totally different category<br />

defined in terms of differential equations on a certain<br />

manifold.<br />

This led to two great trends. The first was a geometrisation<br />

of representation theory. This is characterised by<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

the search for a geometric context whenever one does<br />

representation theory; that is, one looks for similarities<br />

in structure between sets of representations, and sets of<br />

sheaves (for example) on certain algebraic manifolds.<br />

The second is a wider opening of opportunities for<br />

cross-fertilisation between subjects which ostensibly<br />

have no connection with each other. These two trends<br />

have of course had the effect of raising the entry<br />

barriers to the subject. However, I believe that both<br />

characterise to some extent the development of the<br />

whole of mathematics in the last 30 years. To seriously<br />

study singularities, which previously required only<br />

a knowledge of differential analysis, now requires<br />

microlocal analysis, which involves derived categories,<br />

and some very sophisticated algebra.<br />

There have been two further paradigm shifts in<br />

representation theory over the last 15 years. First, the<br />

notion of a deformation, which could be interpreted<br />

in terms of “non-commutative geometry”, has been<br />

enormously influential through the study of quantum<br />

groups, which have also been used to solve some<br />

fundamental problems about multiplicities. Since these<br />

were invented by the Leningrad school of mathematical<br />

physicists to study physical problems, this has created<br />

profound links between the two areas. Additionally,<br />

the wheel has turned full circle in the trend away<br />

from abstraction; a favourite word in representation<br />

theory is “categorification”. This is a principle rather<br />

than a theory, but it says roughly that positive integers<br />

should be interpreted as dimensions, that relationships<br />

between numbers should be arrows in a category, and<br />

that maps should be functors. It is interesting that the<br />

concept was invented by Khovanov, in the context of<br />

providing a structure to “explain” the Jones polynomial<br />

invariant of a knot or oriented link.<br />

In summary, there is a myriad of new ideas, and<br />

of interactions with many and varied areas of mathematics.<br />

The subject is still vibrant, with many young<br />

players, and a Fields Medal awarded in 2010. One<br />

reason is that some of the basic, easily stated problems<br />

remain, such as, what are the dimensions of the<br />

irreducible representations of the symmetric groups<br />

over the field of two elements? There is no shortage of<br />

motivation for young guns!<br />

PH: Could you tell us a little about your students?<br />

GL: I have had many students; they are the lifeblood<br />

of any mathematical career, and my students work<br />

today in many different places. For example, Matthew<br />

Dyer is a Professor at Notre Dame (Indiana), and I still<br />

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collaborate with him to this day. He is probably the<br />

world leader in Coxeter groups and Kazhdan–Lusztig<br />

theory. Leanne Rylands is an Associate Professor at<br />

the University of Western Sydney, and has been very<br />

influential there. John Graham, a brilliant individual,<br />

has worked in the finance industry for about 10<br />

years, as has Jerome Blair. John retains an interest in<br />

mathematics, and still publishes from time to time. Ian<br />

Grojnowski is a Professor at Cambridge, in the UK, and<br />

has done beautiful work in “geometric Satake”. Anthony<br />

Henderson, who did a PhD with George Lusztig at<br />

MIT, has returned to Sydney; last year he won the<br />

inaugural Heyde Medal in pure mathematics, awarded<br />

by the Australian Academy of Science. My cotutelle<br />

student, Emmanuel Letellier, is Maître de conférences at<br />

Cäen. In 2011, I had two students submit PhD theses.<br />

They were very different; one (Jon Kusilek) is already<br />

working in banking, while the other (Justin Koonin) is<br />

not sure what is next. I maintain contact with most of<br />

my students, and I am very grateful for the enrichment<br />

they have brought to my life.<br />

PH: Perhaps we could conclude with a little advice<br />

for young men and women starting today.<br />

GL: I believe that a career in mathematical research can<br />

be driven only by an irresistable desire to understand<br />

and discover. This is very different from a career in<br />

mathematics, which I would recommend to anyone<br />

who likes it. These days, it seems clear that if one<br />

embarks on a potential career as a mathematical<br />

researcher, there are many ways to opt out, because<br />

many employers recognise that the skills which go to<br />

make a successful mathematician are very adaptable to<br />

different contexts. This means that the risks associated<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Peter Hall<br />

University of Melbourne, Australia<br />

with embarking on a career in research are somewhat<br />

mitigated.<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> is a subject with a universal perspective.<br />

All serious mathematical research is done in the<br />

context of the whole world, because one is pushing the<br />

frontiers; this is in distinction to using mathematics,<br />

which is necessary in many contexts, and is more<br />

“local” in its focus. Therefore, my main advice to a<br />

young person contemplating a career in mathematics<br />

is simply to “follow your dreams”. Secondary advice<br />

would include exhortations to read the masters, and<br />

to always try to be where the great advances are being<br />

made. However, do not follow fashion slavishly; rather,<br />

let your own informed curiosity determine where you<br />

direct your efforts.<br />

Never be afraid of looking silly by asking questions.<br />

Silly questions have led to some of the most original<br />

ideas in mathematics. I would also advise starting<br />

students not to be afraid of collaboration. The internet<br />

and email have tempered the tyranny of distance<br />

somewhat, but isolation is still an ever-present danger,<br />

particularly in Australia. Collaboration with international<br />

partners is a very good way of forcing yourself<br />

to keep up with what is going on everywhere.<br />

One final word... With the advent of the arXiv, there<br />

is a huge amount of work being posted every day. Do<br />

not become obsessed with reading everything daily;<br />

follow your own interests with integrity, and success<br />

will follow.<br />

PH: Thank you very much, Gus. We’ve had a<br />

fascinating discussion of both European history<br />

and international mathematics. Your life has been<br />

shaped profoundly by both. I wish you the very best<br />

for the future.<br />

Peter Hall was born in Sydney, Australia, and received his BSc degree from the University<br />

of Sydney in 1974. His MSc and DPhil degrees are from the Australian National University<br />

and the University of Oxford, both in 1976. He taught at the University of Melbourne<br />

before taking, in 1978, a position at the Australian National University. In November<br />

2006 he moved back to the University of Melbourne. His research interests range across<br />

several topics in statistics and probability theory.


Endre Szemerédi Receives 2012 Abel Prize<br />

Endre Szemerédi<br />

The winner of the prestigious Abel Prize of the<br />

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters<br />

for the year 2012 is 72-year-old Hungarian<br />

mathematician Endre Szemerédi of the Alfréd Rényi<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Hungarian Academy of<br />

Sciences, Budapest, and Department of Computer<br />

Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey<br />

in the United States.<br />

The announcement was made by the President of<br />

the Norwegian Academy in Oslo. The citation for the<br />

award says Szemerédi “has revolutionised discrete<br />

mathematics by introducing ingenious and novel techniques,<br />

and by solving many fundamental problems”.<br />

His work has brought combinatorics to the centre-stage<br />

of mathematics by bringing to bear its application in<br />

many areas of mathematics such as additive number<br />

theory, “ergodic” theory, theoretical computer science<br />

and “incidence” geometry.<br />

The Abel Committee has noted that Szemerédi’s<br />

approach belongs to the strong Hungarian problemsolving<br />

tradition exemplified by mathematicians such<br />

as George Pólya and yet the theoretical impact of his<br />

work has been enormous. Szemerédi’s highly influential<br />

work has proved to be a game-changer in many areas<br />

of mathematics.<br />

Interestingly, Szemerédi entered mathematics somewhat<br />

late. He attended medical school for a year and<br />

worked in a factory before switching to mathematics.<br />

His extraordinary mathematical talent was discovered<br />

when he was a young student in Budapest by his mentor,<br />

famous Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdõs. He<br />

studied at the Eõtvõs Loránd University in Budapest<br />

and obtained his PhD in 1970 under Israel M Gelfand<br />

at Moscow State University.<br />

R Ramachandran<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Szemerédi proved several fundamental theorems<br />

of tremendous importance. Many of his results have<br />

opened up new avenues in mathematics and form the<br />

basis for future research. He first attracted international<br />

attention in 1976 with his solution of what is known as<br />

the Erdõs–Turan Conjecture. In its proof, Szemerédi<br />

had used a masterpiece of combinatorial reasoning,<br />

which was immediately recognised to have exceptional<br />

depth and power. A key step in the proof, now known<br />

as the Szemerédi Regularity Lemma, is used for classification<br />

of large graphs.<br />

Many of Szemerédi’s discoveries that have had<br />

great impact on discrete mathematics and theoretical<br />

computer science carry his name. Examples in<br />

discrete mathematics include the Szemerédi–Trotter<br />

Theorem, the Ajtai–Komlós–Szemerédi semi-random<br />

method, the Erdõs–Szemerédi sum-product theorem,<br />

and the Balog–Szemerédi–Gowers Lemma. Examples<br />

in theoretical computer science include the<br />

Ajtai–Komlós–Szemerédi sorting network, the<br />

Fredman–Komlós–Szemerédi hashing scheme and the<br />

Paul–Pippenger–Szemerédi–Trotter theorem.<br />

The Abel Prize, named after great Norwegian<br />

mathematical genius Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829),<br />

is given in recognition of outstanding contributions to<br />

mathematical sciences and has been awarded annually<br />

since 2003. Abel, who died at the age of 26, has often<br />

been compared with the Indian mathematical genius<br />

Srinivasa Ramanujan. The Prize was established in<br />

2001 as part of Abel’s 200th birth anniversary. It carries<br />

a cash award of 6 million Norwegian Kroner (NOK),<br />

equivalent to €750,000 (about US$ 1 million), and is<br />

comparable in prestige, value and eligibility criterion<br />

to the Nobel Prize, which, does not cover mathematics.<br />

The winning candidate is selected on the basis of<br />

the recommendation of an international committee of<br />

outstanding mathematicians chaired by a Norwegian.<br />

The current committee is headed by Ragni Piene,<br />

Professor at the University of Oslo and includes M S<br />

Raghunathan, formerly of the Tata Institute of Fundamental<br />

research (TIFR) and currently at the Indian<br />

Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), in Mumbai.<br />

The selection of Szemerédi for the award was made<br />

in February at a meeting of the committee held at the<br />

TIFR.<br />

Reproduced from The Hindu, March 22, 2012<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 37


38<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Indian Women and <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

January 8–10, 2012, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India<br />

The symposium ‘‘Indian Women in <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

2012” (IWM) was the first meeting of its kind<br />

to be organised in India and attracted about<br />

150 women. The participants included undergraduate<br />

and graduate students who are pursuing a degree in<br />

the mathematical sciences and faculty members in<br />

mathematics from colleges and universities in India.<br />

There were also participants of Indian origin who are<br />

working and studying in universities outside of India.<br />

The tremendous growth in the Indian economy has<br />

resulted in a great demand for a scientifically educated<br />

workforce. The government of India has established the<br />

Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research<br />

in the cities of Bhopal, Mohali, Pune, Kolkata and<br />

Thiruvanantapuram. There are ten Indian Institutes<br />

of Technology campuses and many new universities<br />

have also been established. All these institutes and<br />

universities have a department of mathematics and are<br />

looking to hire strong research oriented mathematicians<br />

who are also excellent teachers.<br />

To meet this need it is clearly important to attract<br />

more women to pursue a degree in mathematics and to<br />

create an environment which enables their participation<br />

in the scientific workforce. The IWM was designed to<br />

facilitate interaction between women mathematicians<br />

who have an active research career and college teachers,<br />

undergraduates and graduate students. Over thirty<br />

women researchers from reputed Indian institutes and<br />

universities gave expository lectures on a diverse range<br />

of mathematical subjects. Since the primary goal was<br />

to attract more women to mathematics, the lectures<br />

were kept at a very accessible level and generated lively<br />

participation and stimulated an interest in higher<br />

mathematics in the audience.<br />

On the first afternoon of the meeting, the<br />

participants were divided into eight groups, based<br />

on their areas of interest in mathematics. Each group<br />

had a leader who made a short presentation on their<br />

research and then led a group discussion. This allowed<br />

for close and informal interaction between senior and<br />

junior participants. There were panel discussions on<br />

the remaining two afternoons. The first one focused on<br />

providing the participants with information on funding<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Vyjayanthi Chari<br />

The organisers: Vyjayanthi Chari and Jaya N N Iyer<br />

possibilities to do a PhD in mathematics and future<br />

avenues of employment in academia. Students and<br />

teachers were told of ways to improve their academic<br />

preparation for entering a PhD program. The second<br />

discussion focused on job opportunities in industry.<br />

Both discussions also addressed the issues of creating<br />

appropriate syllabi which would also help students to<br />

identify useful courses in disciplines such as computer<br />

science, economics and finance.<br />

The need for follow up activities was clearly<br />

articulated by the participants and many practical<br />

suggestions were made. Outreach activities aimed at<br />

young women studying in the smaller towns in India<br />

are needed. Programmes aimed at college teachers and<br />

fostering their pedagogical skills is critical. The need<br />

for a network and networking opportunities for women<br />

mathematicians is also essential. It is also important<br />

to encourage research activities in mathematics<br />

departments increasing the participation of women in<br />

conferences and workshops.<br />

Concrete steps are being taken to implement these<br />

suggestions and activities are being planned and<br />

funding has been sought for the next five years.<br />

Details on abstracts, talks and other features<br />

(including photographs and videos) can be found at<br />

http://www.imsc.res.in/~jniyer/IWM.html<br />

Organisers: Vyjayanthi Chari (University of California,<br />

Riverside, USA). Jaya N N Iyer (Institute of<br />

Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India).


News from Australia<br />

Winner of the 2012 J H Michell Medal<br />

The J H Michell Medal is awarded<br />

annually by ANZIAM to at most one<br />

outstanding new researcher who has<br />

carried out distinguished research<br />

in applied or industrial mathematics<br />

within Australia and New Zealand. At<br />

the recent ANZIAM Annual Meeting,<br />

the 2012 J H Michell Medal was<br />

awarded to Dr Matthew Simpson.<br />

News in Asia Pacific Region<br />

Matthew Simpson<br />

The committee for the 2012 J H Michell Medal has<br />

unanimously agreed to nominate Matthew Simpson of<br />

the Queensland University of Technology for this award.<br />

Matthew obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree from<br />

the University of Newcastle in 1998 and a PhD from the<br />

University of Western Australia in 2004. Between 2003<br />

and 2010 he was a Research Fellow and then Australian<br />

Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Since<br />

2010, he has been Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer at<br />

the Queensland University of Technology.<br />

Matthew’s PhD research involved developing computational<br />

algorithms to solve mathematical models that<br />

describe mixing of fresh and saline fluids in coastal<br />

aquifers. In 2003, Matthew joined Professor Kerry<br />

Landman’s group at the University of Melbourne where<br />

he used advanced computational and mathematical<br />

modelling to design and interpret new experiments<br />

that challenged existing hypotheses about the development<br />

of the enteric nervous system. Three articles by<br />

Simpson, Landman and Newgreen published on this<br />

work have already received 100 citations and the work<br />

was featured as a cover illustration of the prestigious<br />

journal, Developmental Biology. Having been awarded<br />

an ARC Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2006, Matthew then<br />

worked with Professor Kerry Landman and Professor<br />

Barry Hughes to develop new mathematical tools that<br />

describe multiscale data from cell biology experiments.<br />

Since his appointment at QUT, Matthew has established<br />

strong collaborative links with both mathematicians<br />

and life scientists. He has published approximately 40<br />

papers, many of which have been well-cited.<br />

Matthew has obtained significant research funding,<br />

supervised a number of students, and presented results<br />

at ANZIAM meetings since 2004. The committee<br />

regards him as a worthy recipient of the 2012 J H<br />

Michell Medal.<br />

The committee consisted of Carlo Laing (Massey<br />

University, Chair), Natashia Boland (University of<br />

Newcastle) and Tony Roberts (University of Adelaide).<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> of Planet Earth 2013<br />

In 2013, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute<br />

(AMSI) will run a four-week national event with the<br />

theme <strong>Mathematics</strong> of Planet Earth, the event will be<br />

hosted by AMSI members around Australia. In support<br />

of this event, AMSI will call for proposals for events<br />

and programmes in any branch of the mathematical<br />

sciences, AMSI encourages cross-disciplinary proposals<br />

(round open and close date to be announced). AMSI<br />

will co-ordinate the Australian programme for the<br />

year of the <strong>Mathematics</strong> of Planet Earth. Events will be<br />

run in conjunction with the Australian Mathematical<br />

Society, the Australian and New Zealand Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Society and the Statistical Society of Australia.<br />

The theme <strong>Mathematics</strong> of Planet Earth will also run<br />

through 2013 AMSI flagship events in Australia:<br />

Summer School, Graduate School, Vacation Research<br />

Scholarships and BioInfoSummer. More information:<br />

www.amsi.org.au/MPE2013.php; Enquiries: Simi<br />

Henderson (simi@amsi.org.au).<br />

AMSI is a national facility based in Melbourne,<br />

Australia. AMSI is a collaborative enterprise comprising<br />

of universities, societies and government agencies<br />

throughout Australia. Its mission is to improve the<br />

mathematical sciences capacity and capability in<br />

the Australian community. AMSI runs workshops,<br />

supports lecture tours, sponsors events, hosts an annual<br />

series of schools and events aimed at undergraduate,<br />

Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 39


40<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

honours and postgraduate students, offers quantitative<br />

industry internships, produced a suite of school<br />

textbooks and teacher support material and promotes<br />

mathematics and statistics careers through numerous<br />

outreach programmes. For more information see: www.<br />

amsi.org.au.<br />

News from Cambodia<br />

International Conference on Science and<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Education<br />

The group photo of all participants<br />

The 5th International Conference on Science and<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Education in Developing Countries was<br />

held at Zaman University from March 1–3, 2012. More<br />

than 100 delegates from 26 different countries shared<br />

their latest research findings on pure mathematics<br />

and pedagogy of science and mathematics. Dr Chan<br />

Roath, who is heading the Cambodian Mathematical<br />

Society, was the main organiser of the event. Zaman<br />

University, as a co-organiser, sponsored and facilitated<br />

the conference such that it was conducted in the most<br />

efficient and effective way. Other sponsors and organisers<br />

of the conference: Ministry of Education, Youth<br />

and Sports (Cambodia), International Commission on<br />

Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), International Centre<br />

for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Uppsala University<br />

(Sweden), Khemarak University (Cambodia), Casio<br />

Computer (Japan) and SimNet (Singapore).<br />

Guests from abroad include Bill Barton (President of<br />

International Commission on Mathematical Instruction<br />

(ICMI)), Bernard R Hodgson ((Canada), former<br />

Secretary General of ICMI), Graeme Fairweather<br />

((USA), Executive Editor, Mathematical Reviews), Lê<br />

Tuấn Hoa (President of Southeast Asian Mathematical<br />

Society (SEAMS) and President of Vietnamese Mathematical<br />

Society), Ana Ferreras (Senior Programme<br />

Officer, US National Academic of Science), Peter<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Sundin (International Science Programme (ISP),<br />

Sweden), Leif Abrahamsson (Head of International<br />

Programme in Mathematical Science (IPIMS),<br />

Sweden), Toh Tin Lam (President of Association<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Teacher of Singapore), Fujii Toshiakira<br />

(Tokyo Gakugei University, Japan), and many other<br />

prominent academics and administrators from various<br />

universities and foundations.<br />

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, Dr<br />

Men Sam An, officiated the conference on March 1.<br />

The international delegations were called on by Dr Sok<br />

An, on March 2. The Minister for Ministry of Education,<br />

Youth and Sports, Im Sethy, honoured the event<br />

on the last day by sharing his government’s efforts in<br />

reviving the education system which was completely<br />

destroyed by the Khmer Rouge regime. He also gave<br />

prizes to outstanding students in mathematics and<br />

science from Cambodian high schools and also to<br />

Zaman University Science and Engineering Fair<br />

(ZUNSEF) winners.<br />

There was a roundtable discussion chaired by Bernard<br />

Hodgson on how ICMI, SEAMS, ISP and other international<br />

organisations could help develop science and<br />

mathematics education in developing countries in the<br />

South East Asia region. A summary of the results of<br />

the three day conference activities was reported by<br />

the Local Organising Committee, and the Conference<br />

Recommendations were presented by Bill Barton.<br />

Professor Bill Barton, professor of mathematics at<br />

University of Auckland, discussed potential collaborations<br />

between the University of Auckland and Zaman<br />

University with the Rector. As part of the university’s<br />

efforts of internationalisation, he shared that the Faculty<br />

of Science is eager to have links with Zaman University<br />

in terms of enhancing their research capacity in a<br />

developing country like Cambodia.<br />

News from China<br />

In Remembrance of Professor Zhou Xueguang<br />

Famous topologist, former Director of the Department<br />

of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Nankai University, former President<br />

of the Tianjin Mathematical Society and China’s first<br />

doctoral supervisor, Professor Zhou Xueguang, had<br />

passed away on February 22, 2012 in Tianjin, at the<br />

age of 85.


Professor Zhou has worked at Nankai University since<br />

1950. With help from S S Chern and Wentsun Wu,<br />

Professor Zhou became a solid homotopy theorist<br />

and contributed all of his life for establishing the<br />

development of homotopy theory in China as well as<br />

the development of mathematics at Nankai University.<br />

Professor Zhou was one of the Chinese mathematicians<br />

who were insisting in their own research under very<br />

difficult political situation of the Cultural Revolution in<br />

China from 1966 to 1976. After China moved towards<br />

an open society from the 1980s, Professor Zhou was<br />

one of the major local mathematicians who contributed<br />

to the success of Nankai Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

established by S S Chern in 1985, which is now named<br />

as Chern Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>.<br />

In remembrance of Professor Zhou Xueguang,<br />

the School of Mathematical Sciences conducted a<br />

remembrance session in the afternoon of March<br />

30, 2012. Professor Hou Zixin (former principal<br />

of Nankai University, and former Vice-Chairman<br />

of Chinese Mathematical Society), Professor Long<br />

Yiming (academician of the Chinese Academy of<br />

Sciences, and former Vice-Chairman of Chinese<br />

Mathematical Society and current Director of Chern<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>), Professor Yao Jiachao<br />

(former Nankai University Senate Director), Professor<br />

Shen Shiyi (former Dean of School of Mathematical<br />

Sciences), Meng Zhaohua (former Secretary of School<br />

of Mathematical Sciences), leaders of College Party,<br />

Professor Zhou Xueguang’s daughter, colleagues,<br />

friends, students, teachers, cadre and student representatives<br />

participated in the remembrance session.<br />

Remembrance session of Professor Zhou Xueguang<br />

Looking back at the session, Professor Guo<br />

Junyi, Professor Hou Zixin, Professor Long<br />

Yiming, daughter of Professor Zhou Xueguang<br />

and Professor Zhou Xiaosu of Nankai University<br />

Business School took turns to give their respective<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

remembrance speeches during the session. Professor<br />

Zhou Xueguang’s friends and students reminisced<br />

about their time with Professor Zhou Xueguang.<br />

Chinese Mathematician Gives Clues to $1 Million<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Problem<br />

At the 2012 International Winter School on The Birch<br />

and Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD) Conjecture organised<br />

by Pohang University of Science and Technology<br />

(POSTECH), Professor Tian Ye from the Chinese<br />

Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong> revealed some clues to the<br />

answer of the conjecture; of which a prize of $1 million<br />

would be given to the one who solved it.<br />

The BSD conjecture is an open problem in the field of<br />

number theory and it is regarded as one of the most<br />

challenging problems in mathematics. Its status has<br />

become widely recognised; the conjecture was chosen<br />

as one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems listed<br />

by the Clay <strong>Mathematics</strong> Institute, which has offered<br />

$1 million prize for the first correct proof. So far only<br />

special cases of the conjecture have been proved correct.<br />

Professor Tian Ye was the guest speaker at the POSTECH<br />

winter school event and is one of the top 5 experts of<br />

the BSD conjecture field. According to him, there are<br />

a few underlying mathematical problems such as the<br />

existence of congruent number that must be resolved<br />

first before one can solve the BSD Conjecture. Professor<br />

Tian Ye also mentioned that there are numerous<br />

congruent numbers in the BSD conjecture which took<br />

him 5 hours to prove. After listening to his proof,<br />

Professor John Coates (University of Cambridge) said<br />

that “although this is not a perfect answer, but it is a great<br />

leap forward towards resolving the BSD Conjecture.”<br />

POSTECH has decided to use<br />

Tian Ye’s proof as the theme of the<br />

Spring Seminar. Professor Coates<br />

also promised to conduct a special<br />

lecture in the Spring Seminar on<br />

his own analysis of the proof. This<br />

is an indication of the importance<br />

of the idea put forward by Tian Ye,<br />

who plans to publish a paper on his<br />

Tian Ye<br />

proof so as to enable mathematicians<br />

from all over the world to evaluate it. POSTECH<br />

Winter School will be held in both 2013 and 2014 in<br />

order to open up the challenge of the BSD conjecture<br />

to more people.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 41


42<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

News from India<br />

Kannan Soundararajan Receives Infosys Prize for<br />

Mathematical Sciences<br />

The Infosys 2011 Prize for<br />

Mathematical Sciences is<br />

awarded to Professor Kannan<br />

Soundararajan for his pathbreaking<br />

work in analytic<br />

number theory and development<br />

of new techniques<br />

to study critical values of<br />

general zeta functions to Kannan Soundararajan<br />

prove the Quantum Unique Ergodicity Conjecture for<br />

classical holomorphic forms.<br />

Kannan Soundararajan has made fundamental<br />

contributions to analytic number theory. These include<br />

numerous brilliant breakthroughs in well-known and<br />

difficult problems, as well as the resolution of some that<br />

have been open for a long time. In particular, his recent<br />

development of new unexpected techniques to study<br />

the critical values of general zeta functions has led to the<br />

proof of the Quantum Unique Ergodicity Conjecture<br />

for classical holomorphic modular forms. Many of the<br />

analytic and combinatorial tools that Soundararajan<br />

and his collaborators have developed, in works ranging<br />

from prime numbers and sieve methods to character<br />

sums and zeta functions, have become standard tools<br />

for researchers in these fields.<br />

Soundararajan grew up in Chennai and was a student<br />

at Padma Seshadri High School in Nungambakkam in<br />

Madras (now Chennai), India. He represented India<br />

at the International Mathematical Olympiad in 1991<br />

and won a Silver Medal. He joined the University<br />

of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1991 for undergraduate<br />

studies, and graduated with highest honours in 1995.<br />

Soundararajan was awarded the inaugural Morgan<br />

Prize in 1995 for his work in analytic number theory.<br />

He got his PhD from Princeton University where he<br />

studied under the guidance of Professor Peter Sarnak.<br />

At Princeton, he also held the Sloan Foundation<br />

Fellowship.<br />

After his PhD, he received the first five year fellowship<br />

from the American Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, and<br />

held positions at Princeton University, the Institute<br />

for Advanced Study, and the University of Michigan.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

He moved to Stanford University in 2006 where he is<br />

currently a Professor of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and the Director<br />

of the <strong>Mathematics</strong> Research Center (MRC) at Stanford.<br />

His main research interest is number theory, especially<br />

L-functions and multiplicative number theory.<br />

He has held positions at Princeton University, the<br />

Institute of Advanced Study and the University of<br />

Michigan. He was awarded the Salem Prize in 2003 “for<br />

contributions to the area of Dirichlet L-functions and<br />

related character sums”. In 2005, he won, along with<br />

Manjul Bhargava, the $10,000 SASTRA Ramanujan<br />

Prize for his contributions to number theory.<br />

Soundararajan is one of the top analytic number<br />

theorists whose contributions to mathematics are in<br />

the great tradition of G H Hardy, John Littlewood and<br />

Srinivasa Ramanujan. His recent work brings out the<br />

beautiful connections between classical number theory<br />

and quantum physics.<br />

The relationship between classical mechanics and their<br />

quantum analogues is a problem of great interest to<br />

both mathematicians and physicists. Classical systems<br />

can be chaotic but still have lots of periodic orbits. In<br />

their quantum versions the distribution of mass in<br />

high energy states could in principle concentrate on<br />

either part.<br />

These classical chaotic systems have number theoretic<br />

analogues. The Quantum Ergodicity Conjecture of Zeev<br />

Rudnick and Peter Sarnak asserts that in these contexts,<br />

the high energy states do not concentrate on the<br />

periodic orbits, but spread out evenly. The recent work<br />

of Soundararajan and Roman Holowinsky proves the<br />

fundamental cases of the conjecture. Their ingenious<br />

proof sidesteps the still unproven Generalised Riemann<br />

Hypothesis, establishing instead some carefully crafted<br />

consequences of the latter, which are shown to suffice<br />

for their application.<br />

Congratulatory Message from the Jury Chair—<br />

Srinivasa S R Varadhan<br />

“Hello Soundararajan. I want to congratulate you. The<br />

Infosys Science Foundation has chosen you as this<br />

year’s winner in <strong>Mathematics</strong> for their Infosys Prize.<br />

It’s for your recent work on Quantum Chaos, and the<br />

related questions of Unique Ergodicity. It gives me<br />

personally great pleasure to take this opportunity to<br />

congratulate you.”


Kerala’s Mathematical Genius to be Feted in Seoul<br />

Mathematicians in Kerala are working to make a unique<br />

presentation on ancient Indian mathematicians at the<br />

International Congress on <strong>Mathematics</strong> Education<br />

(ICME) being held next year in Seoul, South Korea.<br />

And this comes at a time when the Prime Minister of<br />

the country declared this year as the National Year of<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> in commemoration of Srinivasa Ramanujan’s<br />

125th birth anniversary.<br />

With Kerala having a legacy of ancient mathematicians<br />

and astronomers, the Inter-University Centre for<br />

Studies on Kerala Legacy of Astronomy and <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

(IUCKLAM), Cochin University of Science and<br />

Technology (CUSAT) is attempting to trace the works<br />

of ancient mathematician Sangamagrama Madhavan.<br />

“It is now called the Kerala School of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, and<br />

it began with Madhavan in the 14th century. The gurushishya<br />

parampara continued till the 18th century,” said<br />

Dr VPN Nampoori, director of the centre. He said that<br />

much of Madhavan and his school were known to the<br />

Western world through the series of papers published<br />

by Charles Whish during 1834 in the journal called<br />

Transactions of Asiatic Society of Great Britain and<br />

Ireland. Through a series of papers, Whish showed that<br />

works of Newton, Leibnitz, Gregory and others (who<br />

lived in 17 – 18th centuries) were just rediscoveries of<br />

mathematics contributed by the Kerala School.<br />

“We are trying to have paintings of these mathematicians<br />

made by tracing their lineage and making an<br />

artist’s sketch of these people. Some of the sketches<br />

have been done and we are planning to refresh them<br />

for an exhibition at the International Congress on<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Education (ICME), which will be held<br />

next year at Seoul,” said A Vijaykumar, coordinator,<br />

southern region, National Initiative of Mathematical<br />

Education (NIME). NIME is a project of the Indian<br />

National Science Academy (INSA) to evaluate the status<br />

and trends in mathematics education research and in<br />

the practice of teaching mathematics at all levels. “India<br />

is making a national presentation this year and we have<br />

started compiling the status of mathematics in the<br />

country at school, college and university level,” he said.<br />

The world will get to know of the ancient Indian school<br />

of mathematics, called the golden years in two phases,<br />

5–10th century AD and 14–18th century AD. This is<br />

part of the initiative of the International Commission<br />

on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), a constituent of<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

the International Mathematical Union (IMU), which<br />

has been organising the International Congress on<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Education (ICME), every four years.<br />

The Congress brings together a broad spectrum of<br />

participants — researchers in mathematics education,<br />

teacher educators, practising teachers, mathematicians<br />

and others interested in mathematics education from<br />

all over the world.<br />

Famous Indian and Norwegian Mathematicians Ramanujan and<br />

Abel. Photo: Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, University of Oslo and<br />

ICTP<br />

Norway identifies India as a Key Partner in Research<br />

Cooperation<br />

The double mathematical jubilee of Abel Prize and<br />

Ramanujan Prize was marked at Tata Institute of<br />

Fundamental Research on February 23, 2012. The<br />

celebration witnessed the significant Ramanujan Prize<br />

being bestowed to Professor Philibert Nang, in recognition<br />

of his outstanding contributions to the algebraic<br />

theory of D-modules.<br />

Mr Helge Holden (Chairman of the Abel Board), Mr<br />

Nils Christian Stenseth (President of the Norwegian<br />

Academy of Science and Letters) and Ragni Pien<br />

(Director of the Abel committee) were present at the<br />

event among other dignitaries. The Abel Committee<br />

was meeting in Mumbai to discuss and finalise the<br />

winner of the Abel Prize 2012.<br />

The year 2012 marks the 125th birth anniversary of<br />

Srinivasa Ramanujan. The Ramanujan Mathematical<br />

Society has planned a series of mathematical activities<br />

throughout the year to celebrate. The 10th anniversary<br />

of the Abel Prize will also be celebrated in connection<br />

with the award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, in May. Nils<br />

Christian Stenseth will announce the winner of the<br />

2012 Abel Prize on March 21. The Abel Laureate will<br />

receive the Prize at an award ceremony in Oslo, Norway,<br />

on May 22. The two prizes bring together research<br />

associations between India and Norway.<br />

Ambassador of Norway, Ms Ann Ollestad said: “Norway<br />

and India have many overlapping research interests in<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 43


44<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

the field of sustainability, climate, mathematics, and<br />

several other areas. Norway and India share a close<br />

relationship in terms of intellectual knowledge. A<br />

recent white paper identifies India as one of Norway’s<br />

prioritised partners for research cooperation.”<br />

The agreement on research and technology cooperation<br />

between India and Norway was signed in<br />

2006. It encompasses the exchange of researchers,<br />

information and documentation, grants for young<br />

researchers to participate in exchanges, bilateral<br />

seminars and courses, cooperation on identifying<br />

research areas and projects of mutual interest, and<br />

organising conferences on research and technology.<br />

In order to strengthen bilateral research cooperation<br />

between India and Norway, the Norwegian Programme<br />

for Research Cooperation with India (INDNOR),<br />

managed by the Norwegian Research Council, has<br />

been established as an initiative on research funding<br />

cooperation as part of this effort.<br />

The results are starting to show in the Embassy and<br />

Research Council’s cooperation with India. Number<br />

of joint publications in peer reviewed research publications<br />

has increased from 16 in 2000 to 156 in 2010.<br />

Scientific subjects are well represented, for instance<br />

in condense matter physics, nuclear physics, applied<br />

mathematics, computer sciences and artificial intelligence.<br />

One of the goals for the INDNOR programme is to lay<br />

the foundation for increased cooperation with India<br />

in all thematic areas and scientific fields, and encompassing<br />

basic research, applied research and innovation.<br />

Efforts will be made to ensure the involvement of trade<br />

and industry, universities and university colleges, as<br />

well as research institutes in both countries.<br />

India and France to Set Up Virtual Institute on<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

India and France have decided to set up a virtual institute<br />

for applied mathematics to take up joint research<br />

projects in the area. An agreement to set up the virtual<br />

institute was signed on January 12, 2012 between the<br />

Department of Science and Technology and the National<br />

Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) of France.<br />

The new initiative will have participation from six<br />

institutes from India led by the Indian Institute of<br />

Science (IISc), Bangalore. The University of Toulouse<br />

will be the lead institute from France. Besides the<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

initiative in mathematics, the two sides also signed<br />

agreements to renew cooperation in the field of<br />

immunology and informatics. The three projects will be<br />

funded equally by Paris-based CNRS and the Departments<br />

of Science and Technology, and Biotechnology.<br />

“We have signed agreements with the Indian counterparts<br />

to set up a joint unit in mathematics in Bangalore<br />

and two international associated labs in informatics<br />

and immunology to strengthen scientific collaboration<br />

between the two countries,” CNRS Director–General<br />

Joel Bertrand said.<br />

“Each side will contribute Rs five crore (or 50 million<br />

rupees, approximately US$ 100,000) towards the<br />

initiative,” said Thirumalachari Ramasami, Secretary,<br />

Department of Science and Technology. He also said<br />

the funds would be spent over the next four years on<br />

joint research projects in mathematical sciences and<br />

exchange visits.<br />

The top 30 Indian and 30 French mathematicians will<br />

jointly work on the research projects over the next<br />

four years at IISc in Bangalore and at CNRS centres in<br />

Paris and Toulouse in France. Besides the IISc, Chennai<br />

Mathematical Institute (CMI) and the Institute of<br />

Mathematical Sciences, Chennai and a couple of IITs<br />

will be involved in the mathematics initiative, said G<br />

Rangarajan, a professor of <strong>Mathematics</strong> at IISc and<br />

Indian coordinator for the project told.<br />

The 72-year-old CNRS is the state-funded organisation<br />

under the French ministry of research and higher<br />

education, with a budget of 3.3 billion euros in 2012.<br />

With about 1,100 research units, including joint<br />

research labs with universities and industries worldwide,<br />

CNRS employs 35,200 people, including 11,400<br />

researchers and 15,200 engineers and technicians.<br />

Math Facebook: Teaching Tomorrow<br />

Chennai-based online mathematics education platform<br />

HeyMath is working on launching a new social<br />

networking site “Math Facebook” called “Teaching<br />

Tomorrow” within three months. HeyMath, which<br />

has former IMF chief economist Raghuram Rajan and<br />

entrepreneur Jerry Rao on its advisory board, is on<br />

course to unveil the social networking site for mathematics.<br />

Symbolically, it is happening in 2012 — the<br />

National <strong>Mathematics</strong> Year in India. “I am visualising<br />

3,000 teachers coming together (from key HeyMath


markets such as the US, Singapore and India),” says<br />

Nirmala Sankaran, MD of HeyMath. “There is a case<br />

for bringing this community together. They would face<br />

similar problems as teachers.” According to Rao, the<br />

founder of the software company MphasiS, “An open<br />

platform such as this will help teachers resolve issues<br />

they face, and bring out creative ideas of teaching in<br />

an open environment.”<br />

The site is currently being designed. When completed,<br />

it would have incorporated popular social networking<br />

features such as “likes” and “recommendations”.<br />

Through this site, mathematics teachers will be available<br />

online to share mathematics problems with each other.<br />

News from Japan<br />

The MSJ Autumn Meetings 2012<br />

The MSJ Autumn Meeting 2012 will be held at Ito<br />

Campus of Kyushu University, Fukuoka, during<br />

the period September 18–21, 2012. The chair of the<br />

organising committee is Dr Masaaki Yoshida at Kyushu<br />

University and the chair of the executive committee<br />

is Dr Hideki Kosaki at Kyushu University. The detail<br />

about the Meeting will be announced in the next issue<br />

of APMN and also on the main page of the meeting with<br />

URL http://mathsoc.jp/en/meeting/kyushu12sept/.<br />

MSJ–KMS Joint Meeting 2012<br />

On September 17 prior to the Autumn Meeting,<br />

MSJ–KMS Joint Meeting 2012 is held. The Organising<br />

Committee of the Joint Meeting consists of: Yoichi<br />

Miyaoka (University of Tokyo), Miyuki Koiso (Kyushu<br />

University), Takayoshi Ogawa (Tohoku University) and<br />

Takashi Tsuboi (University of Tokyo) from Japan; Jong<br />

Hae Keum (KIAS) , Yong Jin Song (Inha University),<br />

Dohan Kim (Seoul National University) and Dongsu<br />

Kim (KAIST) from Korea. In the morning session, we<br />

have two plenary talks by Gen Nakamura (Hokkaido<br />

University) and Jun-Muk Hwang (KIAS). We have the<br />

following four parallel sessions in the afternoon:<br />

Algebra Session<br />

Shuji Saito (Tokyo Institute of Technology)<br />

Yukinobu Toda (University of Tokyo)<br />

Yongnam Lee (Sogang University)<br />

Changheon Kim (Hanyang University)<br />

Geometry and Topology session<br />

Shigeyuki Morita (University of Tokyo)<br />

Shin-ichi Ohta (Kyoto University)<br />

Jaigyoung Choe (KIAS)<br />

Sang-hyun Kim (KAIST)<br />

Analysis Session<br />

Yoshikazu Giga (University of Tokyo)<br />

Kenji Nakanishi (Kyoto University)<br />

Kang Tae Kim (POSTECH)<br />

Ki-Ahm Lee (SNU)<br />

Probability Theory and Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong> Session<br />

Takashi Kumagai (Kyoto University)<br />

Makiko Sasada (Keio University)<br />

Hyeong In Choi (SNU)<br />

Jung Hee Cheon (SNU)<br />

The detailed programme of the Joint Meeting will be<br />

announced on its main page with URL<br />

http://mathsoc.jp/en/meeting/MSJ-KMS2012/ and also<br />

in the next issue of APMN.<br />

Yoshinori Gongyo received the Second JSPS Ikushi<br />

Prize<br />

Yoshinori Gongyo is awarded the second JSPS (Japan<br />

Society for the Promotion of Science) Ikushi Prize by<br />

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Yoshinori<br />

Gongyo, a PhD student in the Graduate School of Mathematical<br />

Sciences, the University of Tokyo, is honoured<br />

for his work on “minimal models and abundance”. JSPS<br />

Ikushi Prize has been established since 2010 upon an<br />

imperial donation to encourage young researchers,<br />

especially PhD students.<br />

The Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences<br />

(RIMS), Kyoto University<br />

The Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences<br />

(RIMS) was founded at Kyoto University in April 1963<br />

RIMS, Kyoto University<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 45


46<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

with the aim of promoting research in mathematical<br />

sciences throughout Japan. It has a tenured faculty,<br />

assistant professors, post-doctoral fellows, supporting<br />

staff, and graduate students. Current research staff<br />

(professors, associate professors, lecturers — about 26<br />

in all) and approximately twelve assistant professors<br />

are working in various fields of mathematical sciences.<br />

RIMS also employs approximately forty supporting<br />

staff members, as well as 10 to 14 postdoctoral fellows,<br />

and runs an education programme for the graduate<br />

students.<br />

Domestically, RIMS functions as a focal point for<br />

joint research among researchers from all over Japan<br />

in mathematical sciences. In this capacity, RIMS hosts<br />

numerous short- and long-term domestic visitors, and<br />

frequently serves as a site for research conferences.<br />

In addition, RIMS is an active centre of international<br />

joint research, and, as such, plays host to a steady stream<br />

of long-term foreign visitors. For the convenience of its<br />

foreign visitors, RIMS has established the International<br />

Research Support Office, which provides foreign guests<br />

with various services. The history of RIMS is concisely<br />

presented by Allyn Jackson in her article in Notices of<br />

the American Mathematical Society: RIMS, an Institute<br />

for Japan and the World (URL http://www.ams.org/<br />

notices/200402/fea-rims.pdf)<br />

News from New Zealand<br />

Winner of the 2012 ANZIAM Medal<br />

The ANZIAM Medal is the premier<br />

award offered by ANZIAM (Australian<br />

and New Zealand Industrial<br />

and Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong>). It is<br />

presented biennially. The ANZIAM<br />

medal is awarded on the basis of a<br />

combination of research achievements,<br />

activities enhancing applied<br />

or industrial mathematics or both, Robert McKibbin<br />

and contributions to ANZIAM. This year, it was<br />

bestowed upon Robert McKibbin, Professor of Applied<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> at the Institute of Information and Mathematical<br />

Sciences, Massey University, on the Auckland<br />

campus in New Zealand.<br />

Robert was born in New Zealand and did his first<br />

degree in mathematics, up to the Masters degree, at<br />

the University of Canterbury. After teaching for some<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

time in Papua New Guinea, he then completed his<br />

PhD in 1982 in the area of geothermal modelling in<br />

the Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics<br />

(now the Department of Engineering Science) at the<br />

University of Auckland, where he subsequently became<br />

Senior Lecturer. Robert moved to Massey University in<br />

1991, first to Palmerston North, and later transferring<br />

to Massey University’s expanding Auckland campus<br />

in 2001. He was appointed Professor of Applied<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> in 1996.<br />

Over the past two decades, Robert has been one of the<br />

pre-eminent applied mathematicians in New Zealand,<br />

with a particular focus on geophysical, geothermal and<br />

industrial applications. His mathematical work ranges<br />

from geothermal fluid dynamics and hydrothermal<br />

eruptions, to the modelling of ground subsidence and<br />

aluminium smelting cells. He is highly regarded for<br />

his early work, in the 1980s, in hydrothermal eruptions<br />

which appeared in the Journal of Geophysical Research<br />

and was presented in a way that made his research<br />

accessible to practitioners. His work has attracted<br />

significant funding, and national and international<br />

recognition through numerous invitations to speak at<br />

international applied mathematics conferences.<br />

He has made significant impact in the modelling of<br />

the distribution of volcanic dust from eruptions, and<br />

has several Japanese research collaborators. He has<br />

visited Japan on many occasions including in 2007 as<br />

part of the New Zealand–Japanese Scientist Exchange<br />

Programme. His work in this area is based on accurately<br />

modelling the fundamental physical processes with<br />

novel and original uses of the advection-diffusion<br />

equation. The same modelling arises from other<br />

industrially-based problems, such as pollen distribution<br />

and spray drift and its capture by shelter belts. The<br />

practical impact of his research can be seen in many<br />

of the reports from the <strong>Mathematics</strong>-in-Industry Study<br />

Group meetings. He has also been extremely active in<br />

extending the <strong>Mathematics</strong>-in-Industry Study Group<br />

activities to other countries in South East Asia, notably<br />

Indonesia and Thailand.<br />

Robert has supervised more than 20 PhD and MSc<br />

students, in many diverse areas of applied mathematics,<br />

all with a strong industrial applied mathematics focus.<br />

He has also supervised a large number of undergraduate<br />

industrial projects to inspire a whole generation of<br />

New Zealand applied mathematics students. He is an<br />

extremely supportive mentor, and very much a team


player in collaborative activities. Throughout Australia<br />

and New Zealand, there are many active applied mathematicians<br />

who attest to have been strongly influenced<br />

by Robert.<br />

He has been a leader in ANZIAM for many years and<br />

was Chair from 2004 to 2006, and his commitment to<br />

both ANZIAM and the Royal Society of New Zealand<br />

is seen through the large amount of his time that he<br />

devotes to these organisations. His participation in<br />

the <strong>Mathematics</strong>-in-Industry Study Group meetings<br />

is one of the central reasons that they have been so<br />

successful. He has been the Director of the Centre for<br />

Mathematical Modelling and the Centre for <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

in Industry at Massey University for a total of<br />

12 years and one of the major forces that have steered<br />

New Zealand applied mathematics towards industrial<br />

applications.<br />

There are few other applied mathematicians in New<br />

Zealand who have shown more devotion and service<br />

to the field than has Robert. Through his enthusiasm,<br />

energy and sustained achievement, he has demonstrated<br />

a lifelong commitment to the applied and industrial<br />

mathematics profession, to the extent that he well and<br />

truly meets the criteria for this award. The selection<br />

panel unanimously recommends that Professor Robert<br />

McKibbin be awarded the ANZIAM Medal for 2012.<br />

The 2012 ANZIAM Medal Selection Committee<br />

consisted of James Hill, Graeme Wake and Bob<br />

Anderssen.<br />

News from Philippines<br />

6th Jagna International Workshop: Mathematical<br />

Analysis, Modelling, and Simulation in Interdisciplinary<br />

Sciences<br />

Christopher C Bernido and M Victoria Carpio-Bernido<br />

The rapid accumulation of experimental data and<br />

observations at the interface between different disciplines<br />

continues to pose challenges to our theoretical<br />

understanding of many natural phenomena. Topics<br />

as diverse as neuronal dynamics and competitions in<br />

industry, therefore, are being analysed, modelled, and<br />

simulated using tools and techniques predominantly<br />

used by physicists and mathematicians. In view of this,<br />

the Research Centre for Theoretical Physics (RCTP),<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Central Visayan Institute Foundation, organised the 6th<br />

Jagna International Workshop: Mathematical Analysis,<br />

Modelling, and Simulation in Interdisciplinary Sciences<br />

on January 4–7, 2012. The site of the Workshop was<br />

the coastal town of Jagna in the southern part of the<br />

island province of Bohol, Philippines. The Workshop<br />

is the 6th in a series organised by the Research Centre<br />

for Theoretical Physics which is celebrating its 20th<br />

year in 2012.<br />

The Workshop aimed to: (a) investigate novel methods<br />

applicable to varied physical situations; (b) identify<br />

essential new ideas and underlying principles; and (c)<br />

discuss recent breakthroughs and open questions in<br />

interdisciplinary sciences. With 53 participants from<br />

10 countries, the informal nature of the Workshop<br />

encouraged graduate students and young PhDs to<br />

learn as much as they can from invited lecturers so that<br />

research directions can be clearly defined. Aside from<br />

research level talks, a tutorial lecture and roundtable<br />

discussion were held.<br />

The major areas tackled were: Neuroscience with<br />

talks by Alfonso Albano (Bryn Mawr College, USA),<br />

Vincent Daria (Australian National University), and<br />

M V Carpio-Bernido (RCTP); Biological systems<br />

with talks by Jenneke Klein-Nulend (VU University<br />

of Amsterdam), Ludwig Streit (Univesity of Madeira/<br />

Universität Bielefeld), Laksana Tri Handoko (Indonesian<br />

Institute of Sciences), and Rommel Bacabac<br />

(University of San Carlos, Philippines); Nanoscience<br />

with talks by Eduardo Mendoza (Max Planck Institute<br />

of Biochemistry, Germany), and Ryan Balili (MSU-<br />

Iligan Institute of Technology). Complex Social<br />

Systems and Industry Dynamics were discussed by<br />

Josef Fröhlich (Austrian Institute of Technology),<br />

Frederik Wiegel (University of Amsterdam), Matthew<br />

George Escobido (Asian Institute of Management),<br />

and Christopher C Bernido (RCTP). A lecture on<br />

the Bose– Einstein condensation was also given by<br />

Hiroshi Ezawa (Gakushuin University, Japan) and<br />

talks on mathematical foundations were delivered<br />

by Toru Nakamura (Gakushuin University, Japan),<br />

Tobias Kuna (University of Reading, UK), Maria João<br />

Oliveira (University of Lisbon), and José Luís da Silva<br />

(University of Madeira). Contributed papers along the<br />

main areas were also presented by graduate students<br />

and young PhDs.<br />

To allow a wider audience to benefit from the Workshop,<br />

the World Scientific Publishing Co is publishing<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 47


48<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

the workshop’s proceedings online in the open access<br />

journal, the International Journal of Modern Physics:<br />

Conference Series.<br />

The Workshop sponsors include the Alexander von<br />

Humboldt Foundation (Germany), the Philippine<br />

Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT)-SMART<br />

Foundation, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute<br />

of Technology, and local government officials.<br />

Workshop speakers, participants, organisers and staff of the 6th<br />

Jagna International Workshop<br />

News from Taiwan<br />

Fu Szu-Nien Award in <strong>Mathematics</strong> Awarded to<br />

Professor Mu-Tao Wang<br />

In order to promote mathematics research in Taiwan<br />

as well as to encourage outstanding mathematical<br />

contributions, the National Taiwan University (NTU),<br />

together with the Taida Institute for Mathematical<br />

Sciences, has established the Fu Szu-Nien Award in<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> in 2011. The laureate will receive an award<br />

of NTD 1,000,000 each year for 3 consecutive years.<br />

During this period, the laureate will also teach and do<br />

research in NTU for at least two years.<br />

In 2011, the committee of Fu Szu-Nien Award decided<br />

that the first Fu Szu-Nien Award in <strong>Mathematics</strong> be<br />

given to Professor Mu-Tao Wang from Columbia<br />

University. He is also an alumnus of the Department of<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> of the National Taiwan University.<br />

Professor Mu-Tao Wang has made great contributions<br />

in the area of differential geometry and partial differential<br />

equations in the last decade. He is well-known<br />

internationally for his deep research in the theory of<br />

mean curvature flow and general relativity. He was<br />

the first to develop mean curvature flow in higher<br />

co-dimensions. He also collaborated with worldrenowned<br />

mathematician Professor Shing-Tung Yau<br />

in introducing the right concept of quasi-local mass,<br />

thereby successfully answering one of the main questions<br />

in general relativity.<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

In 2011/2012, Professor Mu-Tao Wang is a visiting<br />

chair professor at NTU and is giving an advanced<br />

course on topics in general relativity. Currently, he<br />

is leading a group of NTU mathematicians doing<br />

frontier mathematical research in this very important<br />

direction.<br />

Mu-Tao Wang presented with<br />

the Fu Szu-Nien Award<br />

2012 Hsu Chen-Jung Lectures<br />

Mu-Tao Wang<br />

Professor Clifford Taubes, the William Petschek<br />

Professor of <strong>Mathematics</strong> at Harvard University and<br />

an internationally acclaimed differential geometer,<br />

has been confirmed as the 2012 Hsu Chen-Jung Chair<br />

Professor. Professor Taubes will give a lecture series in<br />

the Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Academia Sinica, in the<br />

fall of 2012. The Hsu Chen-Jung Chair, donated by the<br />

Hsu family, is sponsored by the Mathematical Society<br />

of Republic of China and the Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

Academia Sinica. It is dedicated to the memory<br />

of Professor Hsu for his efforts in developing and<br />

nurturing mathematical research in Taiwan. The 2011<br />

Hsu Chen-Jung Lectures were delivered by Professor<br />

Kenji Fukaya of Kyoto University in October 2011.<br />

TWAS 2011 Prize for Shun-Jen Cheng<br />

Shun-Jen Cheng (Taiwan), of the Institute of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

of the Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan,<br />

and Patricio Luis Felmer (Chile), of the Department<br />

of Mathematical Engineering at the Universidad<br />

de Chile in Santiago, Chile, shared the 2011 TWAS<br />

Prize in <strong>Mathematics</strong>. Cheng is honoured for his<br />

work on a super duality that led to a complete and<br />

novel viewpoint of the representation theory of classical<br />

Lie superalgebras. Felmer is recognised for his<br />

outstanding contributions to Hamiltonian systems,<br />

singular perturbations theory and nonlinear elliptic<br />

equations.


Other News<br />

Chinese Undergraduate Solved Seetapun–Slaman<br />

Conjecture<br />

Recently, there was wide<br />

coverage about a 22-year-old<br />

undergraduate Liu Lu (刘<br />

路) who successively solved<br />

a conjecture of Seetapun<br />

and Slaman [1]. A senior<br />

student hailing from the<br />

School of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

and Computing of Central<br />

Liu Lu<br />

South University (CSU) in<br />

Changsha, Hunan Province, he proved a negative<br />

answer to the conjecture of Seetapun and Slaman, and<br />

this paper will appear in Journal of Symbolic Logic. He<br />

won praise from the Editor-in-Chief Denis Hirschfeldt<br />

for cracking the 20-year unsolved problem [2]. Liu was<br />

invited to deliver a talk on his results in the Reverse<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Workshop held during September 16–18,<br />

2011 at the University of Chicago [3]. On March 20,<br />

2012, CSU appointed Liu as a professorial research<br />

fellow, making him China’s youngest-ever professor,<br />

to date. Meanwhile, Liu received a special award of 1<br />

million Yuan (US$158,000) from the university, half<br />

to fund his research work, and half as a contribution<br />

towards his living expenses. His latest award, the Star of<br />

Hope Award, was conferred to him on March 31, 2012<br />

during the World Chinese Festival, the 2011–2012 “You<br />

Bring Charm to the World” Award Ceremony held at<br />

the Peking University Centennial Auditorium [4].<br />

In numerous mass media reports, Liu was described<br />

as a genius and math wizard. His appointment to the<br />

post of professorial fellow has drawn mixed responses.<br />

The Chinese media tended to hype up his results and<br />

appointment. On the other hand, there were mathematicians<br />

who warned that the media had acutely exaggerated<br />

his contribution and that Liu has been over-praised.<br />

Professor Tang Tao from the Hong Kong Baptist<br />

University and also President of the Hong Kong Mathematical<br />

Society, reminded the media not to hype up<br />

the accomplishment of Liu Lu excessively. Seetapun–<br />

Slaman conjecture is just one of the many conjectures<br />

in mathematics solved by various mathematicians every<br />

year. He was of the opinion that Liu Lu as an undergraduate<br />

who was able to solve the Seetapun–Slaman<br />

conjecture, which has its importance to a certain<br />

extent, is definitely an achievement. But there is no<br />

need to regard him as a genius and math wizard, and<br />

over-exaggerate the significance of his results. Tang<br />

said that some financial rewards and encouragement<br />

are necessary but anything more than that, including<br />

his newfound fame and celebrity status, in particular<br />

the media hype, may act as a distraction and a burden<br />

upon the young man’s academic career.<br />

As for Liu’s appointment to the post of professor, many<br />

academicians felt that it is inappropriate for someone<br />

who is currently pursuing a higher degree and does<br />

not have any teaching and administrative experience<br />

to assume such a post. They are of the opinion that it<br />

would be better for Liu to be just a research fellow (or<br />

better still to go abroad to work under the guidance of<br />

a top mathematician in the field he intends to pursue<br />

rather than keeping him in the same university).<br />

1. See David Seetapun and Theodore A. Slaman, On the<br />

strength of Ramsey’s theorem, Notre Dame Journal of<br />

Logic 36 570–582 (1995); and Peter A. Cholak, Carl<br />

G. Jockusch, Theodore A Slaman, On the strength of<br />

Ramsey’s theorem for pairs, Journal of Symbolic Logic<br />

66, 1-55 (2001).<br />

2<br />

2. Liu Lu submitted his paper “ RT2 does not imply<br />

WKL 0 ” to Journal of Symbolic Logic using the name<br />

Jiayi Liu. The paper is available online and is scheduled<br />

for 77 (2) (2012) 609–620.<br />

3. He presented a paper “Cone avoid closed sets induced<br />

by a non-enumerable trees within partition” under<br />

the name Jiayi Liu.<br />

4. Other recipients of this award include the NBA<br />

basketball player of Taiwanese origin Jeremy Lim of<br />

Linsanity fame.<br />

Of Related Interest<br />

The Postdocs Who Lost Millions<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

David Seetapun and Andrew Felce gave up glittering<br />

university careers to trade for huge salaries at leading<br />

investment banks. Both lost their jobs as a result of<br />

trading losses.<br />

British-born Felce moved first. In 1992, he completed<br />

a PhD in string theory at Princeton University and<br />

became a postdoc at the University of California, Santa<br />

Barbara. Both institutions boast top physics departments<br />

and Felce was expected to quickly break new<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 49


50<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

ground in his subject. Instead, in 1994, he left UCSB<br />

for an option traders' desk at Bankers Trust.<br />

Even more was expected of David Seetapun, who<br />

gained a PhD in mathematical logic at the University<br />

of California, Berkeley, in 1995. Seetapun's adviser<br />

Ted Slaman says: "In his identity as a mathematical<br />

logician, David is brilliant. Our joint paper includes<br />

his ingenious solution to a well known and notoriously<br />

difficult problem and a perfectly routine calculation of<br />

mine. I wrote it to make his theorem available to the<br />

rest of the mathematical community."<br />

In early 1996, Seetapun left Berkeley for the bank<br />

Credit Suisse. A few months later, he and Felce were<br />

headhunted by the London branch of investment firm<br />

Goldman Sachs. They specialised in trading options<br />

linked to interest rates. Mathematical wizardry was<br />

needed to handle these instruments, which involved<br />

not a single underlying asset such as a share price,<br />

but a continuous curve of interest rates with differing<br />

maturities.<br />

Seetapun headed an aggressive proprietary trading<br />

venture intended to compete directly with the likes of<br />

LTCM. His reputation was widespread, and in March<br />

1998, he was headhunted back to Credit Suisse. He<br />

was earning $1 million a year including bonuses. At<br />

Goldman Sachs, Felce took over Seetapun's old trading<br />

positions.<br />

In September 1998, everything fell apart for Seetapun.<br />

The models stopped working, and he lost almost<br />

$100 million, before he was finally dismissed. Felce's<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

dismissal came in August 1999, during another bout<br />

of market turmoil.<br />

Goldman Sachs has admitted losing $20 million on<br />

Felce's trades, although traders at rival firms insist that<br />

the true figure is higher.<br />

Felce is now unemployed and living in London. Friends<br />

say Seetapun left London for Las Vegas, where he played<br />

the blackjack tables. Next he moved to Florida, where<br />

he has the dangerous job of a crewman on a deep-sea<br />

swordfish boat.<br />

THES Editorial, November 19, 1999<br />

1. Correction: David Seetapun actually received a PhD<br />

in logics from Cambridge in 1991, under Robert I<br />

Soare, the thesis title was “Contributions to recursion<br />

theory”. He was a postdoc under Professor Theodore<br />

A Slaman at the University of California, Berkeley,<br />

in 1995. It is interesting to note that Wikipedia entry<br />

for David Seetapun only appeared on 24 March 2012,<br />

after the widespread Chinese media coverage on “the<br />

cracking of Seetapun’s Enigma by Liu Lu”. The first<br />

entry also made this same mistake about Seetapun.<br />

2. Angler David Seetapun and Captain Drew Delashmit<br />

took first place in the Islamorada Invitational Fall<br />

Fly Bonefish Tournament (2006) with a total of 2630<br />

points. Their three weight fish were 8.12, 9.6 and 11.6<br />

pounds.


Conference CALENDAR<br />

Conferences in Asia Pacific Region<br />

APRIL 2012<br />

2 – 4 Apr 2012<br />

The 2012 International Symposium on<br />

Integrative Bioinformatics (IB2012)<br />

Hangzhou, China<br />

http://www.cls.zju.edu.cn/binfo/IB/2012/<br />

6 – 8 Apr 2012<br />

Workshop on Statistical Data Analysis<br />

Chennai, India<br />

http://www.imtnagpur.ac.in/spss2012/<br />

7 – 8 Apr 2012<br />

2012 International Conference on<br />

Bioinformatics and Computational Biology<br />

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia<br />

http://www.icbcb.org/<br />

7 – 8 Apr 2012<br />

2012 International Conference on System<br />

Engineering and Modelling<br />

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia<br />

http://www.icsem.org/<br />

17 – 19 Apr 2012<br />

ACODS Hybrid Systems: Computation<br />

and Control<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://triton.towson.edu/~cpsweek<br />

callforworktut.html<br />

23 – 27 Apr 2012<br />

Workshop on Non-Uniformly Hyperbolic and<br />

Neutral One-Dimensional Dynamics<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www2.ims.nus.edu.sg<br />

Programs/012whyperbolic/index.php<br />

23 – 28 Apr 2012<br />

Polynomial Computer Algebra 2012<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/pca/index.<br />

html<br />

26 Apr – 17 May 2012<br />

Gibbons Memorial Lecture Series 2012<br />

Auckland, New Zealand<br />

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~bob/<br />

27 – 28 Apr 2012<br />

The 29th Workshop on Combinatorial<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> and Computation<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://algo2012.ntcb.edu.tw/<br />

28 Apr 2012<br />

2012 Korean Mathematical Society (KMS)<br />

Spring Conference<br />

Seoul, Korea<br />

http://www.kms.or.kr/meetings/spring2012/<br />

home.htm<br />

28 – 29 Apr 2012<br />

2nd International Conference on<br />

Applied Physics and <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

(ICAPM 2012)<br />

Chennai, India<br />

http://www.icapm.org/cfp.htm<br />

29 Apr – 2 May 2012<br />

4th International Interdisciplinary Chaos<br />

Symposium on “Chaos and Complex Systems”<br />

Antalya, Turkey<br />

http://www.laurent-duval.eu/siva-conferences.<br />

html<br />

30 Apr – 4 May 2012<br />

International Conference on Jordan Theory,<br />

Analysis and Related Topics<br />

In Celebration of the 65th Birthday of<br />

Professor Cho-Ho Chu<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

http://www.math.cuhk.edu.hk/conference/<br />

JTART_2012/index.html<br />

MAY 2012<br />

1 – 5 May 2012<br />

The 3rd China–Australia Conference on<br />

Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and<br />

Related Topics<br />

Sydney, Australia<br />

http://maths-old.anu.edu.au/events/TCA2012/<br />

4 – 26 May 2012<br />

2012 NCTS Program on Nonlinear Equations<br />

in Spatial Population Biology<br />

Hsinchu, Taiwan<br />

http://math.cts.nthu.edu.tw/<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong>/2012NESPB.htm<br />

7 – 8 May 2012<br />

2nd Annual International Conference on<br />

Operations Research and Statistics (ORS 2012)<br />

Bali, Indonesia<br />

http://www.orstat.org<br />

7 – 11 May 2012<br />

Topics on Nonlinear Partial Differential<br />

Equations<br />

Pohang, Korea<br />

http://math.postech.ac.kr/new/conferences/<br />

view/217<br />

10 – 12 May 2012<br />

International Conference on<br />

Functional Equations and Geometric<br />

Functions and Applications (ICFGA 2012)<br />

Tabriz, Iran<br />

http://www.icfga2012pnu.ir/<br />

14 – 16 May 2012<br />

The 6th International Frontiers of<br />

Algorithmics Workshop (FAW 2012)<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://faw-aaim2012.pku.edu.cn.<br />

14 – 17 May 2012<br />

Fractional Differentiation and Its Applications<br />

(The 5th IFA Symposium)<br />

Nanjing, China<br />

http://em.hhu.edu.cn/fda12/<br />

16 – 19 May 2012<br />

2012 NCTS Workshop on Dynamical Systems<br />

Hsinchu, Taiwan<br />

http://math.cts.nthu.edu.tw/<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong>/2012DS.htm<br />

16 – 20 May 2012<br />

TURING 2012 — Turing Year in China<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://turing2012.iscas.ac.cn<br />

16 – 20 May 2012<br />

Antalya Algebra Days XIV<br />

Cesme, Turkey<br />

http://www.aad.metu.edu.tr/<br />

16 – 21 May 2012<br />

Theory and Applications<br />

of Models of Computation (TAMC 2012)<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://turing2012.iscas.ac.cn/tamc2012.html<br />

16 – 21 May 2012<br />

The Turing Lectures<br />

Institute of Software (ISCAS)<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://turing2012.iscas.ac.cn/index.html<br />

17 – 19 May 2012<br />

5th International Conference<br />

on Information Security and Cryptology<br />

(ISCTURKEY2012)<br />

Ankara, Turkey<br />

http://www.iscturkey.org/<br />

17 – 20 May 2012<br />

International Conference on Applied<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> and Approximation Theory 2012<br />

Ankara, Turkey<br />

http://amat2012.etu.edu.tr/<br />

18 – 19 May 2012<br />

2012 Mathematical Society of the Philippines<br />

Annual Convention<br />

De La Salle Lipa, Philippines<br />

http://www.mathsocietyphil.org/2012%20<br />

MSP%20Annual%20Convention%20<br />

Announcement.pdf<br />

18 – 19 May 2012<br />

2011 Korean Society for Industrial and<br />

Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong> (KSIAM) Spring<br />

Conference<br />

Seoul, Korea<br />

http://www.ksiam.or.kr<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 51


19 – 21 May 2012<br />

The 2012 International Symposium<br />

on Econometric Theory and<br />

Applications (SETA 2012)<br />

Shanghai, China<br />

http://crfi.sjtu.edu.cn/seta2012/<br />

21 – 22 May 2012<br />

2nd Annual International Conference on<br />

Qualitative and Quantitative Economics<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www.qq-economics.org/<br />

21 – 25 May 2012<br />

International Topological Conference<br />

“Alexandroff Readings”<br />

Moscow, Russia<br />

http://mech.math.msu.su/~manuilov/<br />

Alexandroff.html<br />

21 – 26 May 2012<br />

The 6th International Conference on Inverse<br />

Problems: Modeling and Simulation<br />

Antalya, Turkey<br />

http://www.conference-service.com/<br />

conferences/applied-mathematics.html<br />

22 – 25 May 2012<br />

The 2nd International Conference<br />

on Scientific Computing (ICSC 2012)<br />

Nanjing, China<br />

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~zhilin/nanjing_conf12.<br />

html<br />

22 – 25 May 2012<br />

2012 China–Japan–Korea International<br />

Conference on Mathematical Biology<br />

Busan, Korea<br />

http://ksmb.org/gnu/2012cjk/home.php<br />

22 – 25 May 2012<br />

Philosophy, <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Linguistics: Aspects<br />

of Interaction 2012<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/PhML/index.<br />

htm<br />

23 – 25 May 2012<br />

11th International Symposium<br />

on Functional and Logic Programming<br />

(FLOPS 2012)<br />

Kobe, Japan<br />

http://www.org.kobe-u.ac.jp/flops2012/<br />

25 – 27 May 2012<br />

The 1st International Conference<br />

on Soft Computing, Artificial Intelligence and<br />

Applications (SCAI 2012)<br />

Dehli, India<br />

http://coneco2009.com/SCAI2012/index.html<br />

25 – 30 May 2012<br />

Instabilities and Control of Excitable<br />

Networks: From Macro- to Nano-Systems<br />

(ICENet)<br />

Dolgoprudny, Russia<br />

http://icenet2012.net/<br />

26 – 29 May 2012<br />

2012 Spring International Conference on<br />

Applied and Engineering <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Xi’an, China<br />

http://www.engii.org/scet2012/AEM2012.aspx<br />

52<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Conference CALENDAR<br />

28 May 2012<br />

The 2012 Meeting of the Israel Mathematical<br />

Union<br />

Ramat Gan, Israel<br />

http://imu.org.il/Meetings/IMUmeeting2012/<br />

index.html<br />

28 – 30 May 2012<br />

9th International Conference on Statistical<br />

Sciences<br />

Lahore, Pakistan<br />

http://isoss.net/9th%20Conf.pdf<br />

28 May – 1 Jun 2012<br />

Annual International Conference<br />

DIFFRACTION DAYS’12<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://eimi.imi.ras.ru/~dd/index.php<br />

28 May – 1 Jun 2012<br />

International Conference on Applied<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> 2012: Modelling, Analysis and<br />

Computation<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

http://www6.cityu.edu.hk/rcms/ICAM2012/<br />

index.html<br />

28 May – 2 Jun 2012<br />

The 3rd Workshop on Combinatorics of<br />

Moduli Spaces, Cluster Algebras, Knots, and<br />

Topological Recursion.<br />

Moscow, Russia<br />

http://math.stanford.edu/~vakil/conferences.<br />

html<br />

28 May – 3 Jun 2012<br />

International Conference “Theory of<br />

Approximation of Functions and Its<br />

Applications”<br />

Kamianets-Podilsky, Ukraine<br />

http://www.imath.kiev.ua/~funct/stepconf2012<br />

29 May 2012<br />

1st International Workshop on<br />

Confluence 2012 (IWC 2012)<br />

Nagoya, Japan<br />

http://cl-informatik.uibk.ac.at/events/iwc-2012/<br />

29 – 30 May 2012<br />

International Conference on Geometry,<br />

Mathematical Physics and Applications<br />

Tokyo, Japan<br />

http://www.waset.org/conferences/2012/tokyo/<br />

icgmpa/<br />

29 – 31 May 2012<br />

6th Asia International Conference on<br />

Mathematical/Analytical Modelling and<br />

Computer Simulation (AMS 2012)<br />

Bali, Indonesia<br />

http://ams2012.info/<br />

30 – 31 May 2012<br />

2nd Regional Conference on Applied<br />

and Engineering <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

(RCAEM-II 2012)<br />

Penang, Malaysia<br />

http://rcaem12.unimap.edu.my/<br />

JUNE 2012<br />

3 – 5 Jun 2012<br />

2012 International Conference<br />

on <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Geosciences<br />

(ICMG 2012)<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://www.ourglocal.com/event/?eventid=8584<br />

4 – 6 Jun 2012<br />

The 3rd International Conference on<br />

Cryptology and Computer Security 2012<br />

Kedah, Malaysia<br />

http://math.usm.my/Cryptology2012<br />

4 – 7 Jun 2012<br />

International Conference on Monge-<br />

Kantorovich Optimal Transportation Problem,<br />

Transport Metrics and Their Applications<br />

Dedicated to Centenary of L V Kantorovich<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.mccme.ru/~ansobol/otarie/<br />

MK2012conf.html<br />

4 – 8 Jun 2012<br />

Arithmetic Geometry Week in Tokyo<br />

Tokyo, Japan<br />

http://www.ms.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~t-saito/conf/<br />

agwtodai/agwtodai.html<br />

4 – 9 Jun 2012<br />

Algebra and Geometry International<br />

Conference Dedicated to the 65th anniversary<br />

of Askold G Khovanskii<br />

Moscow, Russia<br />

http://bogomolov-lab.ru/AG2012/<br />

Askoldfest2012.htm<br />

6 – 8 Jun 2012<br />

2012 KIAS–POSTECH Workshop — Number<br />

Theory “L-functions”<br />

Pohang, Korea<br />

http://math.postech.ac.kr/new/conferences/<br />

view/191<br />

7 – 9 Jun 2012<br />

2012 Workshop on Geometric Partial<br />

Differential Equations<br />

Hsinchu, Taiwan<br />

http://math.cts.nthu.edu.tw/<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong>/2012GPDE/<br />

9 – 12 Jun 2012<br />

The 25th International<br />

Conference on Industrial, Engineering and<br />

Other Applications of Applied Intelligent<br />

Systems (IEA/AIE 2012)<br />

Dalian, China<br />

http://ssdut.dlut.edu.cn/iea-aie/webpages/<br />

index.htm<br />

10 – 15 Jun 2012<br />

IEEE World Congress on Computational<br />

Intelligence<br />

Brisbane, Australia<br />

http://www.ieee-wcci2012.org/<br />

11 – 13 Jun 2012<br />

All-Ukrainian Scientific Conference<br />

“Differential Equations and Their Place in<br />

Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong>”<br />

Chernivtsi, Ukraine<br />

http://pmm50.org/index.php?lng=en


11 – 13 Jun 2012<br />

2012 Workshop on Geometric Partial<br />

Differential Equations<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://www.math.sinica.edu.tw/www/file_<br />

upload/conference/20126_GPDE/index.html<br />

11 – 15 Jun 2012<br />

2012 KIAS–POSTECH Workshop on Number<br />

Theory “L-Functions”<br />

Pohang, Korea<br />

http://math.postech.ac.kr/new/conferences/<br />

view/204<br />

11 – 15 Jun 2012<br />

International Workshop on Complex Analysis<br />

and Its Applications<br />

Sangli, India<br />

http://www.walchandsangli.ac.in/<br />

11 – 29 Jun 2012<br />

Okinawa Computational Neuroscience Course<br />

2012<br />

Okinawa, Japan<br />

http://www.irp.oist.jp/ocnc/2012/<br />

15 – 17 Jun 2012<br />

2012 International Conference of the Honam<br />

Mathematical Society<br />

Jeju City, Korea<br />

http://atlas-conferences.com/cgi-bin/<br />

calendar/d/fafa90<br />

15 – 17 Jun 2012<br />

2nd International Conference on Numerical<br />

Analysis of Differential Equations<br />

Nanjing, China<br />

http://njumaths.nju.edu.cn/oa/main/index.<br />

jsp?txt_fileid=361&txt_type1=1&txt_type2=4<br />

16 – 17 Jun 2012<br />

2012 International Conference on Engineering<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> and Physics (ICEMP 2012)<br />

Bangalore, India<br />

http://www.icemp.org/<br />

17 – 21 Jun 2012<br />

International Symposium on<br />

Business and Industrial Statistics 2012 (ISBIS<br />

2012)<br />

Bangkok, Thailand<br />

http://www.isbis2012-thailand.org/<br />

18 Jun – 15 Aug 2012<br />

Random Matrix Theory and Its Applications II<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www2.ims.nus.edu.sg/<br />

Programs/012random/index.php<br />

18 – 23 Jun 2012<br />

Conference on Constructive Nonsmooth<br />

Analysis and Related Topics<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/NSA/index.<br />

html<br />

18 – 29 Jun 2012<br />

St Petersburg School in Probability and<br />

Statistical Physics<br />

St Petersburg, Russia.<br />

http://spspsp.chebyshev.spb.ru/<br />

Conference CALENDAR<br />

19 – 22 Jun 2012<br />

7th World Congress of Bachelier<br />

Finance Society<br />

Sydney, Australia<br />

http://www.bfs2012.com<br />

20 – 24 Jun 2012<br />

International Conference on Applied Analysis<br />

and Algebra (ICAAA2012)<br />

Istanbul, Turkey<br />

http://www.ica12.yildiz.edu.tr/<br />

20 Jun – 6 Jul 2012<br />

The International Summer School in Math<br />

Physics III: Probabilistic Aspects of<br />

Contemporary Physics<br />

Istanbul, Turkey<br />

http://www.fezagurseysummerschool.com/<br />

23 – 25 Jun 2012<br />

The 2nd International Conference on the<br />

Interface between Statistics and Engineering<br />

Tainan, Taiwan<br />

http://conf.ncku.edu.tw/icise/<br />

25 – 27 Jun 2012<br />

The 8th East Asia SIAM Conference<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://www.math.ntu.edu.tw/~easiam2012/<br />

25 – 27 Jun 2012<br />

BGRS–SB–2012 8th International Conference<br />

on the Bioinformatics of Genome Regulation<br />

and Structure/Systems Biology<br />

Novosibirsk, Russia<br />

http://conf.nsc.ru/BGRSSB2012<br />

25 – 29 Jun 2012<br />

International Society for Bayesian Analysis<br />

2012 World Meeting<br />

Kyoto, Japan<br />

http://www2.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~isba2012/<br />

25 – 30 Jun 2012<br />

The 21st Summer St Petersburg Meeting on<br />

Mathematical Analysis<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/ma21/<br />

26 – 28 Jun 2012<br />

The 11th International Workshop on<br />

Dynamical Systems and Applications<br />

Ankara, Turkey<br />

http://tmdankara.org.tr/dsw11/<br />

26 – 28 Jun 2012<br />

The 38th International Workshop on<br />

Graph on Theoretic Concepts in Computer<br />

Science (WG 2012)<br />

Jerusalem, Israel<br />

http://cri.haifa.ac.il/events/2012/WG2012/<br />

26 – 29 Jun 2012<br />

The 10th International Conference<br />

on Applied Cryptography and Network<br />

Security (ACNS ‘12)<br />

Singapore<br />

http://icsd.i2r.a– star.edu.sg/acns2012/index.php<br />

27 – 29 Jun 2012<br />

International Conference on Special Functions<br />

and Their Applications and Symposium on<br />

Life and Works of Ramanujan (XI th Annual<br />

Conference of Society of Special Function and<br />

Their Applications)<br />

Gujarat, India<br />

http://www.ssfaindia.webs.com/conf.htm<br />

28 – 30 Jun 2012<br />

The 16th International Congress on Insurance:<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> and Economics<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

http://www3.hku.hk/statistics/conference/<br />

ime2012/home.php<br />

28 – 30 Jun 2012<br />

The 1st International Conference on<br />

Smarandache Multispace and Multistructure<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://fs.gallup.unm.edu/multispace.htm<br />

29 – 30 Jun 2012<br />

21st Statistics Seminar of the Southern<br />

District and the 2012 China Probability<br />

Statistics Annual Meeting and Symposium.<br />

2012 International Institute for Applied<br />

Statistics Symposium<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://www.stat.fju.edu.tw/conference/info.html<br />

JULY 2012<br />

1 – 31 Jul 2012<br />

Distinguished Lecture Series of S T Yau<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://www.tims.ntu.edu.tw/ch/Activity_detail.<br />

php?AID=46&i=3<br />

2 – 4 Jul 2012<br />

The 2nd Institute of Mathematical Statistics<br />

Asia Pacific Rim Meeting<br />

Tsukuba, Japan<br />

http://ims-aprm2012.org/index.html<br />

2 – 5 Jul 2012<br />

Mini Courses on Several Complex Variables<br />

and Complex Geometry<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://www.math.sinica.edu.tw/www/file_<br />

upload/conference/201207_MSC/index.html<br />

2 – 6 Jul 2012<br />

IASE 2012 Roundtable Conference Technology<br />

in Statistics Education: Virtualities and<br />

Realities<br />

Cebu City, The Philippines<br />

http://icots.net/roundtable/<br />

2 – 6 Jul 2012<br />

The 4th St Petersburg Conference in Spectral<br />

Theory Dedicated to the memory of M Sh<br />

Birman<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/ST/index.<br />

html<br />

2 – 6 Jul 2012<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Education Research<br />

Group of Australasia (MERGA 35)<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www.merga.net.au/conferences<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 53


2 – 13 Jul 2012<br />

Graduate Winter School on Geometric Partial<br />

Differential Equations<br />

Brisbane, Australia<br />

http://www.amsi.org.au/events/<br />

forthcomingevents/754-2012-graduatewinterschool<br />

3 – 5 Jul 2012<br />

The 2nd International Conference on<br />

Mathematical Applications in Engineering<br />

2012 (ICMAE ‘12)<br />

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia<br />

http://www.iium.edu.my/icmae/12/<br />

3 – 6 Jul 2012<br />

Konferensi Nasional Matematika XVI<br />

(XVIth National <strong>Mathematics</strong> Conference)<br />

Jatinangor, West Java, Indonesia<br />

http://knm16.unpad.ac.id<br />

4 – 5 Jul 2012<br />

4th International Gerber–Shiu Workshop<br />

Melbourne, Australia<br />

http://www.economics.unimelb.edu.au/<br />

Gerber-ShiuWorkshop.html<br />

6 – 7 Jul 2012<br />

National Conference on Mathematical and<br />

Computational Sciences<br />

Rajahmundry, India<br />

http://www.nannayauniversity.info/MACS.pdf<br />

6 – 8 Jul 2012<br />

Pre-World-Congress Meeting of Young<br />

Researchers in Probability and Statistics 2012<br />

(PWCYPS 2012)<br />

Istanbul, Turkey<br />

http://pwc2012.ku.edu.tr/<br />

7 Jul 2012<br />

World Federation of National<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Competition Mini Conference<br />

(WFNMC)<br />

Seoul, Korea<br />

http://www.amt.edu.au/wfnmc/<br />

icme2012miniconference.html<br />

7 – 8 Jul 2012<br />

The 1st International Conference on<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> and Mathematical Sciences<br />

New Delhi, India<br />

http://www.serialsjournals.com/conference.php<br />

7 Jul – 25 Aug 2012<br />

Advanced <strong>Mathematics</strong> for Gifted Students<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

http://www0.hku.hk/math/<br />

8 – 15 Jul 2012<br />

The 12th International Congress<br />

on Mathematical Education (ICME-12)<br />

Seoul, Korea<br />

http://www.icme12.org/<br />

8 – 15 Jul 2012<br />

International Conference on Wavelets and<br />

Applications<br />

St Petersburg, Russia.<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/WLA/index.<br />

html<br />

54<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Conference CALENDAR<br />

9 – 11 Jul 2012<br />

The 17th Australasian Conference on<br />

Information Security and Privacy<br />

Wollongong, Australia<br />

https://ssl.informatics.uow.edu.au/acisp2012/<br />

9 – 12 Jul 2012<br />

The 11th Workshop on Numerical Ranges and<br />

Numerical Radii<br />

Kaohsiung, Taiwan<br />

http://www.math.nsysu.edu.tw/~wong/<br />

WONRA2012/<br />

9 – 12 Jul 2012<br />

Australian Statistical Conference<br />

Adelaide, Australia<br />

http://www.sapmea.asn.au/conventions/<br />

asc2012/index.html<br />

9 – 13 Jul 2012<br />

International Workshop on Several Complex<br />

Variables and Complex Geometry<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://www.math.sinica.edu.tw/www/file_<br />

upload/conference/201207_CSC/index.html<br />

9 – 13 Jul 2012<br />

20th International Symposium<br />

on Mathematical Theory of Networks and<br />

Systems (MTNS 2012)<br />

Melbourne, Australia<br />

http://mtns2012.eng.unimelb.edu.au/<br />

9 – 14 Jul 2012<br />

8th World Congress in Probability<br />

and Statistics<br />

Istanbul, Turkey<br />

http://www.vvsor.nl/en/pages/<br />

Calendar/9thofjuli2012/1309/<br />

AyazmaderesiCadKaradutSokNo7/<br />

8thWorldCongressinProbabilityandStatistics<br />

11 – 13 Jul 2012<br />

International Conference on Mathematical<br />

Modeling and Applied Soft Computing<br />

(MMASC 2012)<br />

Tamil Nadu, India<br />

http://www.mmasc2012.org/<br />

12 – 19 Jul 2012<br />

International Summer School on Fundamental<br />

Algorithms and Computable Modeling for<br />

High-Performance and Multi-scale Scientific/<br />

Engineering Computing<br />

Tianjin, China<br />

http://www.math.nankai.edu.cn/conference/<br />

summerschool/indexen.html<br />

13 – 15 Jul 2012<br />

International Workshop on Computer and<br />

Artificial Intelligence<br />

Wuhan, China<br />

http://www.ieeecai.org/<br />

15 – 18 Jul 2012<br />

11th Australia–New Zealand Conference<br />

on Geomechanics (ANZ 2012)<br />

Melbourne, Australia<br />

http://www.anz2010.com.au/index.php<br />

15 – 18 Jul 2012<br />

The International Group for Mathematical<br />

Creativity and Giftedness (The 7th MCG<br />

International Conference)<br />

Busan, Korea<br />

http://www.mcg7.org/main/<br />

15 – 20 Jul 2012<br />

UK–Japan Mathematical Forum<br />

Yokohama, Japan<br />

http://www.mth.kcl.ac.uk/~berndt/conferences/<br />

UJF12/forumhome.html<br />

16 – 20 Jul 2012<br />

International Workshop on Operator Theory<br />

and Applications<br />

Sydney, Australia<br />

http://conferences.science.unsw.edu.au/<br />

IWOTA2012/<br />

16 – 20 Jul 2012<br />

Random Networks and Environments<br />

Istanbul, Turkey<br />

http://www.math.boun.edu.tr/instructors/<br />

yilmaz/RNE.html<br />

16 – 20 Jul 2012<br />

International Conference on<br />

Computational Science<br />

Shanghai, China<br />

http://dmc.shnu.edu.cn/mathsc/conference/<br />

ICCS-2012/Index.htmln<br />

16 – 20 Jul 2012<br />

HPM 2012 History and Pedagogy of<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong>, The HPM Satellite Meeting of<br />

ICME-12<br />

Daejeon, Korea<br />

http://www.hpm2012.org/<br />

16 – 20 Jul 2012<br />

The 8th Workshop on Markov Processes and<br />

Related Topics<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://math.bnu.edu.cn/probab/Workshop2012/<br />

index.html<br />

17 – 20 Jul 2012<br />

10th International Meeting on High-<br />

Performance Computing for Computational<br />

Science (VECPAR 2012)<br />

Kobe, Japan<br />

http://nkl.cc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/VECPAR2012/<br />

17 – 20, 23 – 27 Jul 2012<br />

The 5th MSJ–SI “Schubert Calculus”<br />

Osaka, Japan<br />

www.math.ed.okayama-u.ac.jp/msjsi12/<br />

17 – 21 Jul 2012<br />

Workshop on Bloch-Kato Conjectures<br />

Pune, India<br />

http://www.iitg.ernet.in/a.saikia/bloch-katoconj.<br />

htm<br />

17 – 22 Jul 2012<br />

Analytical Methods of Celestial Mechanics<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/AMCM/index.<br />

html


17 – 27 Jul 2012<br />

The 5th Mathematical Society of Japan<br />

Serasonal Institute, 2012 International<br />

Summer School and Conference on Schubert<br />

Calculus<br />

Osaka, Japan.<br />

http://mathsoc.jp/meeting/msjsi12/<br />

18 – 22 Jul 2012<br />

36th Annual Meeting of the<br />

International Group for the Psychology of<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Education (PME36)<br />

Taipei, Taiwan<br />

http://www.tame.tw/pme36/show_content.<br />

php?content_id=25<br />

19 – 21 Jul 2012<br />

International Workshop on Combinatorial<br />

Algorithms<br />

Tamil Nadu, India<br />

http://www.ncardmath.com/IWOCA2012/index.<br />

html<br />

20 – 25 Jul 2012<br />

2012 International Conference on Statistics<br />

and Management Engineering<br />

Qingdao, China<br />

http://www.iismes.org<br />

21 – 25 Jul 2012<br />

International Conference on Mathematical<br />

Modeling, Analysis and Computation<br />

Xiamen, China<br />

http://math.xmu.edu.cn/meeting/icm2ac.html<br />

23 – 27 Jul 2012<br />

Pan Asian Number Theory Conference<br />

Pune, India<br />

http://www.iitg.ernet.in/a.saikia/bloch-katoconj.<br />

htm<br />

24 – 27 Jul 2012<br />

2012 International Conference on Engineering<br />

and Computational Sciences<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://www.iceas2012.org/<br />

25 – 29 Jul 2012<br />

International Conference on<br />

Intelligent Computing (ICIC 2012)<br />

Huangshan, China<br />

http://www.ic-ic.org/2012/index.htm<br />

30 Jul – 3 Aug 2012<br />

Variational Methods for Evolving Objects<br />

Sapporo, Japan<br />

http://www.math.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/<br />

sympo/120730/index_en.html<br />

30 Jul – 3 Aug 2012<br />

24th International Conference on Formal<br />

Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics<br />

Nagoya, Japan<br />

http://www.math.nagoya-u.ac.jp/fpsac12/index.<br />

html<br />

Conference CALENDAR<br />

AUGUST 2012<br />

5 – 12 Aug 2012<br />

International Conference «Inverse and<br />

Ill-Posed Problems of Mathematical Physics»,<br />

Dedicated to the 80th Anniversary of the<br />

Birthday of Academician M M Lavrent’ev<br />

Novosibirsk, Russia<br />

http://math.nsc.ru/conference/lavr80/index.html<br />

6 – 9 Aug 2012<br />

9th International Linear Algebra Society<br />

Conference<br />

Suwon, South Korea<br />

10 – 12 Aug 2012<br />

2012 Workshop on Graph Theory and<br />

Combinatorics and 2012 Symposium for<br />

Young Combinatorialists<br />

Kaohsiung, Taiwan<br />

http://www.math.nsysu.edu.tw/~comb/2012/<br />

13 Aug – 26 Oct 2012<br />

Meeting the Challenges of High Dimension:<br />

Statistical Methodology, Theory, and<br />

Applications<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www2.ims.nus.edu.sg/<br />

Programs/012statheory/index.php<br />

16 – 18 Aug 2012<br />

International Conference on “Fluid<br />

Mechanics, Graph Theory and Differential<br />

Geometry”<br />

Bangalore, India<br />

http://www.christuniversity.in/<strong>Mathematics</strong>/<br />

deptresources.php?division=Deanery%20of%20<br />

Sciences&dept=12&sid=144#ac<br />

17 – 20 Aug 2012<br />

2012 Joint Rough Set Symposium (JRS 2012)<br />

Chengdu, China<br />

http://sist.swjtu.edu.cn/JRS2012/ArticleCmd.<br />

aspx?AID=1<br />

17 – 22 Aug 2012<br />

2012 Shanghai Conference on Algebraic<br />

Combinatorics<br />

Shanghai, China<br />

http://math.sjtu.edu.cn/Conference/SCAC/index.<br />

html<br />

19 – 24 Aug 2012<br />

The 23rd International Congress of Theoretical<br />

and Applied Mechanics<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://www.ictam2012.org/<br />

20 – 22 Aug 2012<br />

18th Annual International Computing and<br />

Combinatorics Conference<br />

Sydney, Australia<br />

http://cocoon.it.usyd.edu.au/<br />

20 – 24 Aug 2012<br />

SMF–VMS Joint Congress<br />

Mathematiques — Coordination Meeting<br />

of the School of Legal Accounting<br />

Hue, Vietnam<br />

http://www.vms.org.vn/conf/SMF-VMS_3Colors.<br />

htm<br />

20 – 24 Aug 2012<br />

The 4th Geometry Meeting Dedicated to<br />

Centenary of A D Alexandrov<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/A100/index.<br />

html<br />

20 – 24 Aug 2012<br />

Spectral Theory and Differential Equations<br />

Kharkiv, Ukraine<br />

http://www.ilt.kharkov.ua/marchenko2012<br />

23 – 26 Aug 2012<br />

International Congress in Honour of Professor<br />

H M Srivasta<br />

Bursa, Turkey<br />

http://srivastava2012.uludag.edu.tr/<br />

25 – 31 Aug 2012<br />

International Conference and the Second<br />

East-Asian School on Logic, Language and<br />

Computation<br />

Chongqing, China<br />

http://home.hib.no/prosjekter/easllc2012/<br />

27 – 29 Aug 2012<br />

The 10th International FLINS Conference on<br />

Uncertainty Modeling in Knowledge<br />

Engineering and Decision Making<br />

Istanbul, Turkey<br />

http://www.flins2012.itu.edu.tr/<br />

27 – 30 Aug 2012<br />

The 43rd Annual Iranian <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Conference<br />

Tabriz, Iran<br />

http://www.imc43.tabrizu.ac.ir/en<br />

27 – 31 Aug 2012<br />

East-Asian School on Logic,<br />

Language, and Computation (EASLLC 2012)<br />

Chongqing, China<br />

http://home.hib.no/prosjekter/easllc2012/<br />

28 – 30 Aug 2012<br />

Statistical Conference: 11th Iranian Statistical<br />

Conference<br />

Tehran, Iran<br />

http://isc11.iust.ac.ir/index.php?slc<br />

lang=en&sid=1<br />

SEPTEMBER 2012<br />

1 – 3 Sep 2012<br />

13th International Pure <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Conference 2012<br />

Islamabad, Pakistan<br />

http://beta.hec.gov.pk/MediaPublication/News/<br />

Pages/13thMathConference2012.aspx<br />

3 – 7 Sep 2012<br />

The 12th Pacific Rim International Conference<br />

on Artificial Intelligence<br />

Kuching, Malaysia<br />

http://ktw.mimos.my/pricai2012<br />

4 – 6 Sep 2012<br />

The 1st ISM International Statistical<br />

Conference 2012<br />

Johor Bahru, Malaysia<br />

http://www.utm.my/ism-1/<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 55


4 – 9 Sep 2012<br />

2012 International Conference on<br />

Mathematical Analysis, Differential Equations<br />

and Their Applications (MADEA)<br />

Mersin, Turkey<br />

http://madea2012.mersin.edu.tr/<br />

8 – 12 Sep 2012<br />

International Conference on Statistics in<br />

Science, Business and Engineering 2012<br />

Langkawi, Malaysia<br />

http://www.icssbe2012.com/index.<br />

php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52<br />

&Itemid=54<br />

10 – 14 Sep 2012<br />

Modern Stochastics: Theory and Applications III<br />

Kyiv, Ukraine<br />

http://probability.univ.kiev.ua/msta3conf/<br />

12 – 14 Sep 2012<br />

International Conference on<br />

Applied Physics and <strong>Mathematics</strong> (ICAPM<br />

2012)<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www.waset.org/conferences/2012/<br />

singapore/icapm/<br />

13 – 14 Sep 2012<br />

9th International ISC Conference of<br />

Information Security and Cryptology<br />

Tabriz, Iran<br />

http://iscisc12.tabrizu.ac.ir/index.<br />

php?&newlang=eng#<br />

17 Sep 2012<br />

MSJ–KMS Joint Meeting 2012<br />

Fukuoka, Japan<br />

http://mathsoc.jp/en/<br />

17 – 19 Sep 2012<br />

The 11th Australasian Conference on<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> and Computers in Sport<br />

Melbourne, Australia<br />

http://www.anziam.org.au/The+11th+Australas<br />

ian+Conference+on+<strong>Mathematics</strong>+and+Comp<br />

uters+in+Sport<br />

18 – 21 Sep 2012<br />

MSJ Autumn Meeting 2012<br />

Fukuoka, Japan<br />

http://mathsoc.jp/en/pamph/current/spring_<br />

autumn.html<br />

23 – 29 Sep 2012<br />

15th GAMM–IMACS International Symposium<br />

on Scientific Computing, Computer<br />

Arithmetic, and Verified Numerical<br />

Computations<br />

Novosibirsk, Russia<br />

http://conf.nsc.ru/scan2012<br />

24 – 27 Sep 2012<br />

8th National Congress on Finite Element<br />

Method<br />

Tianjin, China<br />

http://www.ams.org/meetings/calendar/2012_<br />

sep24-27_tianjin300071.html<br />

56<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Conference CALENDAR<br />

24 – 27 Sep 2012<br />

56th Annual AustMS Meeting<br />

Mt Helen, Melbourne<br />

http://guerin.ballarat.edu.au/ard/itms/CIAO/<br />

Workshops/AustMS2012/<br />

24 – 30 Sep 2012<br />

XXX International Seminar: Stability Problems<br />

for Stochastic Models<br />

Svetlogorsk, Russia<br />

http://www.ipiran.ru/conference/stabil2012/<br />

OCTOBER 2012<br />

October 2012<br />

Sino–German Probability Workshop<br />

Xuzhou, China<br />

http://www.math.udel.edu/~wli/<br />

1 – 4 Oct 2012<br />

The 13th Conference of the New Zealand<br />

Association of <strong>Mathematics</strong> Teachers<br />

Wellington, New Zealand<br />

http://www.nzamt.org.nz/<br />

3 – 6 Oct 2012<br />

International Conference on Applied and<br />

Computational <strong>Mathematics</strong> (ICACM)<br />

Ankara, Turkey<br />

http://www.iam.metu.edu.tr/icacm<br />

7 – 10 Oct 2012<br />

IEEE International Conference<br />

on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2012)<br />

Seoul, Korea<br />

http://smc2012.com/<br />

11 – 13 Oct 2012<br />

8th International Symposium of<br />

Statistics (IGS2012)<br />

Eskisehir, Turkey<br />

http://igs2012.anadolu.edu.tr/index.<br />

php?lang=en<br />

15 – 19 Oct 2012<br />

Multiscale Materials Modeling 2012<br />

Conference (MMM)<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www.mrs.org.sg/mmm2012/<br />

23 – 25 Oct 2012<br />

Fundamental Technologies of the Next-<br />

Generation Computational Science<br />

Kyoto, Japan<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

24 – 26 Oct 2012<br />

International Conference in Number Theory<br />

and Applications 2012 (ICNA 2012)<br />

Bangkok, Thailand<br />

http://www.maths.sci.ku.ac.th/icna2012/<br />

24 – 26 Oct 2012<br />

International Conference on<br />

Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Computer Sciences<br />

(ICAMCS 2012)<br />

Bali, Indonesia<br />

http://www.waset.org/conferences/2012/bali/<br />

icamcs/<br />

24 – 26 Oct 2012<br />

International Conference on<br />

Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Mechanics and Physics<br />

(ICAMMP 2012 )<br />

Bali, Indonesia<br />

http://www.waset.org/conferences/2012/bali/<br />

icammp/<br />

NOVEMBER 2012<br />

7 – 9 Nov 2012<br />

Joint IAPR International<br />

Workshops on Structural and Syntactic<br />

Pattern Recognition (SSPR 2012) and<br />

Statistical Techniques in Pattern Recognition<br />

(SPR 2012)<br />

Sendai, Japan<br />

http://www.icpr2012.org/<br />

9 – 12 Nov 2012<br />

Cultures of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and Logic<br />

Guangzhou, China<br />

http://www.math.uni-hamburg.de/home/loewe/<br />

Guangzhou2012/<br />

22 – 23 Nov 2012<br />

The 3rd International Conference on<br />

Recent Trends in Information Processing and<br />

Computing (IPC 2012)<br />

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia<br />

http://ipc.theides.org/2012/<br />

24 – 27 Nov 2012<br />

2nd International Science, Technology,<br />

Engineering and <strong>Mathematics</strong> (STEM) in<br />

Education Conference<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://stem2012.bnu.edu.cn/index.html<br />

25 – 27 Nov 2012<br />

4th International Conference on<br />

Computational Methods (ICCM2012)<br />

Gold Coast, Australia<br />

http://www.iccm-2012.org/<br />

28 Nov – 1 Dec 2012<br />

The 8th China International<br />

Conference on Information Security and<br />

Cryptology (Inscrypt’2012)<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://www.inscrypt.cn/2012/inscrypt2012cfp.<br />

html<br />

DECEMBER 2012<br />

1 – 5 Dec 2012<br />

Cross-Straight Workshop in Algebra<br />

Tainan, Taiwan<br />

1 – 31 Dec 2012<br />

24th International<br />

Conference on Computational Linguistics<br />

(COLING 2012 )<br />

Mumbai, India<br />

http://www.coling2012-iitb.org<br />

2 – 6 Dec 2012<br />

Asiacrypt 2012<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://cis.sjtu.edu.cn/asiacrypt2012/


4 – 6 Dec 2012<br />

New Zealand Mathematical Society<br />

Colloquium<br />

Palmerston North, New Zealand<br />

http://nzmathsoc.org.nz/colloquium/home.php<br />

4 – 7 Dec 2012<br />

Australasian Applied Statistics Conference<br />

Queenstown, New Zealand<br />

http://aasc2012.com/<br />

6 – 7 Dec 2012<br />

International Conference on Computational<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong>, Statistics and Data Engineering<br />

Penang, Malaysia<br />

http://www.waset.org/conferences/2012/<br />

penang/iccmsde/<br />

7 – 9 Dec 2012<br />

2012 Annual Meeting of the <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Society of the Republic of China<br />

Hsinchu, Taiwan.<br />

http://www.taiwanmathsoc.org.tw/<br />

9 – 12 Dec 2012<br />

Indocrypt 2012<br />

Kolkata, India<br />

http://www.math.auckland.ac.nz/~sgal018/<br />

indocrypt2012/<br />

10 – 14 Dec 2012<br />

International Conference on Fractals and<br />

Related Topics<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

http://www.math.cuhk.edu.hk/conference/<br />

afrt2012/index.html<br />

10 – 14 Dec 2012<br />

The 36th Australasian Conference<br />

on Combinatorial <strong>Mathematics</strong> and<br />

Combinatorial Computing (36ACCMCC)<br />

Sydney, Australia<br />

http://conferences.science.unsw.edu.<br />

au/36accmcc/<br />

16 – 19 Dec 2012<br />

The 9th International Conference<br />

on Simulated Evolution And Learning (SEAL<br />

2012)<br />

Hanoi, Vietnam<br />

http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/servlet/event.show<br />

cfp?eventid=16916&copyownerid=23956<br />

16 – 20 Dec 2012<br />

2nd International Conference on<br />

Mathematical Sciences and Applications<br />

New Delhi, India<br />

http://atcm.mathandtech.org/<br />

16 – 20 Dec 2012<br />

The 17th Asian Technology Conference<br />

in <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Bangkok, Thailand<br />

http://atcm.mathandtech.org/<br />

27 – 30 Dec 2012<br />

8th International Triennial Calcutta<br />

Symposium on Probability and Statistics<br />

(caltri8)<br />

Kolkata, India<br />

http://triennial.calcuttastatisticalassociation.<br />

org/sympBrochure.php<br />

Conference CALENDAR<br />

28 – 30 Dec 2012<br />

Statistical Concepts and Methods for the<br />

Modern World<br />

Colombo, Sri Lanka<br />

http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au/u/shelton/<br />

SLSC2011/<br />

28 – 31 Dec 2012<br />

International Conference on Mathematical<br />

Sciences (ICMS 2012)<br />

Nagpur, India<br />

http://icms2012.org/<br />

2013<br />

Asian Mathematical Conference<br />

Busan, Korea<br />

http://www.kms.or.kr/eng/contents/news_list.<br />

Asp#25<br />

JANUARY 2013<br />

2 – 5 Jan 2013<br />

International Indian Statistical Association<br />

Conference: Statistics, Science and Society:<br />

New Challenges and Opportunities<br />

Chennai, India<br />

http://intindstat.org/IISA2013/IISA-<br />

Chennai-2013.pdf<br />

28 – 31 Jan 2013<br />

Research on the Behavior of Semi-Equilibrium<br />

Solutions Arising in Mathematical Models of<br />

Nonlinear Phenomena<br />

Kyoto, Japan<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

30 – 31 Jan 2013<br />

International Conference on Probability and<br />

Statistics (ICPS 2013)<br />

Dubai, United Arab Emirates<br />

http://www.waset.org/conferences/2013/dubai/<br />

icps/<br />

FEBRUARY 2013<br />

4 – 5 Feb 2013<br />

2nd Annual International Conference on<br />

Computational <strong>Mathematics</strong>, Computational<br />

Geometry and Statistics (CMCGS 2013)<br />

Singapore<br />

http://mathsstat.org/<br />

MARCH 2013<br />

17 – 22 Mar<br />

The 6th East Asia Regional<br />

Conference on <strong>Mathematics</strong> Education<br />

(EARCOME6)<br />

Phuket, Thailand<br />

http://home.kku.ac.th/earcome6/<br />

APRIL 2013<br />

13 – 14 Apr 2013<br />

International Conference on<br />

Advanced Data Analysis, Business Analytics<br />

and Intelligence (The 3rd IIMA)<br />

Ahmedabad, India<br />

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/icadabai2013/<br />

16 – 19 Apr 2013<br />

IEEE Symposium Series on<br />

Computational Intelligence (SSCI 2013)<br />

Singapore<br />

http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/epnsugan/<br />

index_files/SSCI2013/index.html<br />

MAY 2013<br />

20 – 24 May 2013<br />

Approximation Theory and Applications<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

JUNE 2013<br />

20 – 24 Jun 2013<br />

Asymptotic Geometric Analysis II<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2013/aga/index.<br />

html<br />

24 – 28 Jun 2013<br />

The 2nd PRIMA Conference 2013<br />

Shanghai, China<br />

http://www.primath.org/prima2013/<br />

26 – 30 Jun 2013<br />

The 22th Summer St Petersburg Meeting on<br />

Mathematical Analysis<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

28 – 30 Jun 2013<br />

1st International Conference on Smarandache<br />

Multispace and Multistructure<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://www.ams.org/meetings/calendar/2013_<br />

jun28-30_beijing100190.html<br />

JULY 2013<br />

1 – 5 Jul 2013<br />

6th Pacific Rim Conference on <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Sapporo, Japan<br />

http://www.math.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/<br />

sympo/130701/<br />

2 – 6 Jul 2013<br />

The 5th St Petersburg Conference in Spectral<br />

Theory<br />

Dedicated to the memory of M Sh Birman<br />

St Petersburg, Russia<br />

http://www.pdmi.ras.ru/EIMI/2012/ST/index.<br />

html<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 57


58<br />

AUGUST 2013<br />

3 – 9 Aug 2013<br />

The 2013 International Joint<br />

Conference on Artificial Intelligence<br />

(IJCAI 2013)<br />

Beijing, China<br />

http://www.ezconf.net/ijcai13/<br />

5 – 16 Aug 2013<br />

Analysis on Minimal Representations,<br />

International Summer Research School of<br />

CIMPA 2013 “Hypergeometric Functions and<br />

Representation Theory”<br />

Mongolia<br />

http://www.cimpa-icpam.org/spip<br />

php?article484&lang=fr<br />

25 – 31 Aug 2013<br />

The 59th World Statistics Congress of the<br />

International Statistical Institute<br />

Hong Kong, China<br />

http://www.isi2013.hk/<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Conference CALENDAR<br />

DECEMBER 2013<br />

1 – 6 Dec 2013<br />

International Congress on Modelling and<br />

Simulation (MODSIM2013)<br />

Adelaide, Australia<br />

http://www.austms.org.au/tiki-calendar.php?edi<br />

tmode=details&calitemId=344<br />

JULY 2014<br />

7 – 11 Jul 2014<br />

2014 IMS Annual Meeting<br />

Sydney, Australia<br />

http://www.imstat.org/meetings/<br />

submissions/2014/07/07/1309790138141.html<br />

AUGUST 2014<br />

6 – 9 Aug 2014<br />

9th International Linear Algebra<br />

Society Conference<br />

Suwon, Korea<br />

13 – 21 Aug 2014<br />

International Congress of<br />

Mathematicians 2014<br />

Seoul, Korea<br />

http://www.icm2014.org/<br />

MAY 2015<br />

25 – 28 May 2015<br />

IEEE Congress on<br />

Evolutionary Computation (CEC 2015)<br />

Sendai, Japan<br />

http://www.ourglocal.com/<br />

event/?eventid=10249<br />

Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences Workshops<br />

(RIMS Workshops) Kyoto, Japan<br />

MAY 2012<br />

14 – 16 May 2012<br />

Research on Methods Cultivating<br />

Mathematical Abilities Desirable for<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Teachers<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

16 – 18 May 2012<br />

Intelligence of Low-Dimensional Topology<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

21 – 24 May 2012<br />

Recent Developments in Dispersive Equations<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

23 – 25 May 2012<br />

On Schwarzian Derivatives and Its<br />

Applications<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

28 May – 1 Jun 2012<br />

Representation Spaces, Twisted Topological<br />

Invariants and Geometric Structures of<br />

3-Manifolds<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

28 May – 1 Jun 2012<br />

Developments in Geometry of Transformation<br />

Groups<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

28 May – 1 Jun 2012<br />

Conference of Geometry<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

31 May – 1 Jun 2012<br />

Workshop on Methods and Applications of<br />

Industrial and Applied <strong>Mathematics</strong> (Project<br />

Research 2012)<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

JUNE 2012<br />

4 – 8 Jun 2012<br />

Geometry and Analysis on Discrete Groups<br />

(Project Research 2012)<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

4 – 8 Jun 2012<br />

Numeration and Substitution 2012<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

11 – 13 Jun 2012<br />

Progress in Variational Problems—Variational<br />

Problems Interacting with Probability Theories<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

11 – 13 Jun 2012<br />

Higher Dimensional Algebraic Geometry 2012<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

11 – 15 Jun 2012<br />

Geometry and Analysis on Discrete Groups<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

13 – 15 Jun 2012<br />

Regularity and Singularity for Geometric<br />

Partial Differential Equations and<br />

Conversation Laws<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

19 – 22 Jun 2012<br />

Perspectives of Representation Theory and<br />

Noncommutative Harmonic Analysis<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

25 – 27 Jun 2012<br />

Submanifolds and Quaternion Structures<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

25 – 27 Jun 2012<br />

Study of Bio-Fluid Mechanics and Its Related<br />

Problems<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

JULY 2012<br />

2 – 4 Jul 2012<br />

Harmonic Analysis and Nonlinear Partial<br />

Differential Equations<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html


4 – 6 Jul 2012<br />

Mathematical Analysis in Fluid and Gas<br />

Dynamics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

4 – 6 Jul 2012<br />

Developments in Computer Algebra Research<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

9 – 13 Jul 2012<br />

Dynamical Systems and Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

11 – 13 Jul 2012<br />

Combinatorial Optimization Seminar<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

17 – 19 Jul 2012<br />

Designs, Codes, Graphs and Related Areas<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

17 – 19 Jul 2012<br />

Mathematical Sciences of Anomalous<br />

Diffusion<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

23 – 24 Jul 2012<br />

The Bridge between Theory and Application<br />

in Optimization Method<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

23 – 27 Jul 2012<br />

Current Trend of the Study on Convex<br />

Polytopes<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

25 – 27 Jul 2012<br />

The Study of Inverse Problems and Related<br />

Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

AUGUST 2012<br />

6 – 10 Aug 2012<br />

Algebraic Combinatorics related to Young<br />

Diagram and Statistical Physics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

20 – 22 Aug 2012<br />

Mathematical Software and Education—Study<br />

on Effective Use of Mathematical Software<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

20 – 22 Aug 2012<br />

The Breadth and Depth of Nonlinear Discrete<br />

Integrable Systems<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

RIMS Workshops<br />

20 – 23 Aug 2012<br />

Algebra Symposium<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

23 – 24 Aug 2012<br />

Quantum Walks and Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

25 – 28 Aug 2012<br />

The Fourth China–Japan–Korea Conference<br />

on Numerical <strong>Mathematics</strong> (Research Project<br />

2012)<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

27 – 30 Aug 2012<br />

Study of the History of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

27 – 31 Aug 2012<br />

Discrete Geometric Analysis (Project Research<br />

2012)<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

29 – 31 Aug 2012<br />

Nonlinear Analysis and Convex Analysis<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

SEPTEMBER 2012<br />

3 – 5 Sep 2012<br />

Hopf Algebras and Quantum groups—Their<br />

Possible Applications<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

3 – 6 Sep 2012<br />

Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations,<br />

Dynamical Systems and Their Applications<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

3 – 7 Sep 2012<br />

Potential Theory and Its Related Fields<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

3 – 7 Sep 2012<br />

Towards Complete Equipment of Multiple-<br />

Precision Arithmetic with GPGPU<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

10 – 11 Sep 2012<br />

Wavelet Analysis and Sampling Theory<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

10 – 12 Sep 2012<br />

Algebraic and Geometric Models for Spaces<br />

and Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

12 – 14 Sep 2012<br />

Proof Theory and Complexity<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

12 – 14 Sep 2012<br />

Statistical Models Arising from Toric Ideals<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

18 – 20 Sep 2012<br />

Financial Modeling and Analysis<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

24 – 26 Sep 2012<br />

Recent Developments in Operator Algebras<br />

and Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

24 – 27 Sep 2012<br />

New Approach to the Problems on Graphs<br />

Using Forbidden Subgraphs and Forbidden<br />

Minors<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

26 – 28 Sep 2012<br />

General and Geometric Topology Today and<br />

Their Problems<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

26 – 28 Sep 2012<br />

Collective Dynamics in Dynamical Systems—<br />

Across the Border of Preserving and<br />

Dissipative Systems<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

OCTOBER 2012<br />

3 – 5 Oct 2012<br />

Topology of Tiling Spaces and Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

9 – 11 Oct 2012<br />

New Developments of the Theory of<br />

Evolution Equations in the Analysis of<br />

Non-Equilibria<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

9 – 12 Oct 2012<br />

Combinatorial Representation Theory and<br />

Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

15 – 18 Oct 2012<br />

Discrete Convexity and Optimization (Project<br />

Research 2012)<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

17 – 19 Oct 2012<br />

Mathematical Theory, Modeling, and<br />

Applications of Nonlinear Wave Research<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 59


23 – 26 Oct 2012<br />

Recent Development of Microlocal Analysis<br />

and Asymptotic Analysis<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

29 – 31 Oct 2012<br />

Analytic Number Theory—Number Theory<br />

Through Approximation and Asymptotics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

29 – 31 Oct 2012<br />

Geometry of Moduli Spaces for Low<br />

Dimensional Manifolds<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

30 Oct – 1 Nov 2012<br />

Theory and Application of Statistical Inference<br />

in Quantum Theory<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

60<br />

NOVEMBER 2012<br />

5 – 7 Nov 2012<br />

Research on Structures of Operators via<br />

Methods in Geometry and Probability Theory<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

7 – 9 Nov 2012<br />

Global Qualitative Theory of Ordinary<br />

Differential Equations and Its Applications<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

7 – 9 Nov 2012<br />

Geometry of Solutions of Partial Differential<br />

Equations<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

12 – 14 Nov 2012<br />

New Developments of Generalized Entropies<br />

by Functional Analysis<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

13 – 16 Nov 2012<br />

Theory of Biomathematics and Its<br />

Applications IX<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

14 – 16 Nov 2012<br />

Mathematical Aspects of Quantum Fields and<br />

Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

19 – 21 Nov 2012<br />

Stochastic Decision Analysis<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

RIMS Workshops<br />

19 – 21 Nov 2012<br />

Inverse Problems of Partial Differential<br />

Equations and Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

26 – 30 Nov 2012<br />

Various Aspects of the Painleve Equations<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

27 – 30 Nov 2012<br />

Pursuit of the Essence of Singularity Theory<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

DECEMBER 2012<br />

3 – 7 Dec 2012<br />

Algebraic Number Theory and Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

4 – 7 Dec 2012<br />

Forcing Extensions and Largo Cardinals<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

10 – 14 Dec 2012<br />

New Progress in Complex Dynamical Systems<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

12 – 14 Dec 2012<br />

Spectral and Scattering Theory and Related<br />

Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

17 – 20 Dec 2012<br />

Research on Methods of Cultivating<br />

Mathematical Abilities Desirable for<br />

<strong>Mathematics</strong> Teachers<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

17 – 21 Dec 2012<br />

Kyoto Research Program in Mathematical<br />

Biology Next Wave<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

18 – 21 Dec 2012<br />

Probability Symposium<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

25 – 27 Dec 2012<br />

Computer Algebra—The Algorithms,<br />

Implementations and the Next Generation<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

JANUARY 2013<br />

7 – 10 Jan 2013<br />

Research on Finite Groups and Their<br />

Representations, Vertex Operator Algebras,<br />

and Algebraic Combinatorics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

9 – 11 Jan 2013<br />

Multi-Scale, Multi-Physics Turbulence from a<br />

Mathematical Perspective<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

21 – 23 Jan 2013<br />

Fluid Mechanics from the Viewpoint of<br />

Topology and Geometry<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

21 – 25 Jan 2013<br />

Automorphic Representations and Related<br />

Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

28 – 30 Jan 2013<br />

New Trends in Theoretical Computer Science<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

FEBRUARY 2013<br />

2 – 6 Feb 2013<br />

Quantization and Operator Algebras<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

12 – 15 Feb 2013<br />

Markov Chains on Graphs and Related Topics<br />

(Project Research 2012)<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

13 – 15 Feb 2013<br />

Stochastic Processes and Statistical<br />

Phenomena behind PDEs<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

18 – 19 Feb 2013<br />

Some Developments and Applications on<br />

Mathematical Models for Decision Processes<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

18 – 20 Feb 2013<br />

Algebra and Computer Science<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html<br />

MARCH 2013<br />

4 – 6 Mar 2013<br />

Asymptotic Expansions for Various Models<br />

and Their Related Topics<br />

http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~kyodo/<br />

workshop-en.html


Mathematical Societies in Asia Pacific Region<br />

Australian Mathematical Society<br />

President: P. G. Taylor<br />

Address: Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and<br />

Statistics, The University of Melbourne,<br />

Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia<br />

Email: President@austms.org.au<br />

Tel.: +61 (0)3 8344 5550<br />

Fax: +61 (0)3 8344 4599<br />

http://www.austms.org.au/<br />

Bangladesh Mathematical Society<br />

President: Md. Abdus Sattar<br />

Address: Bangladesh Mathematical Society,<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

University of Dhaka,<br />

Dhaka - 1000, Bangladesh<br />

Email: bdmathsec@yahoo.com<br />

Tel.: +880 17 11 86 47 25<br />

http://bdmathsociety.org/<br />

Cambodian Mathematical Society<br />

President: Chan Roath<br />

Address: Khemarak University<br />

Phnom Penh Center Block D<br />

Email: camb.res.journal@gmail.com<br />

Tel.: (855) 642 68 68<br />

(855) 11 69 70 38<br />

http://www.cambmathsociety.org/<br />

Chinese Mathematical Society<br />

President: Zhiming Ma<br />

Address: 55 Zhong Guan Cun East Road, Hai Dian<br />

District<br />

Beijing 100080, P.R. China<br />

Email: cms@math.ac.cn<br />

Tel.: +86-10-62551022<br />

http://www.cms.org.cn/cms/<br />

Hong Kong Mathematical Society<br />

President: Tao Tang<br />

Address: Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

Hong Kong Baptist University<br />

Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong<br />

Email: ttang@hkbu.edu.hk<br />

Tel.: (852)-3411 7011<br />

Fax: (852)-3411 5862<br />

http://www.hkms.org.hk/<br />

Mathematical Societies in India:<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

The Allahabad Mathematical Scociety<br />

President: D. P. Gupta<br />

Address: 10, C S P Singh Marg,<br />

Allahabad – 211001,Uttar Pradesh, India<br />

Email: ams10marg@gmail.com<br />

http://www.amsallahabad.org/<br />

Calcutta Mathematical Society<br />

President: K. Ramachandra<br />

Address: AE-374, Sector I, Salt Lake City,<br />

Kolkata - 700064, WB, India<br />

Email: cms@cal2.vsnl.net.in<br />

Tel.: 0091 (33) 2337 8882<br />

Fax: 0091 (33) 376290<br />

http://www.calmathsoc.org/<br />

The Indian Mathematical Society<br />

President: R. Sridharan<br />

Address: Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

University of Pune,<br />

Pune – 411007, India<br />

Email: rsridhar@cmi.ac.in<br />

http://www.indianmathsociety.org.in/<br />

Ramanujan Mathematical Society<br />

President: Phoolan Prasad<br />

Address: School of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,<br />

Homi Bhaba Road, Colaba,<br />

Mumbai, India<br />

Email: msr@math.tifr.res.in<br />

http://www.ramanujanmathsociety.org/<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 61


62<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

Vijnana Parishad of India<br />

President: G. C. Sharma<br />

Contact: R.C. Singh Chandel<br />

Secretary, Vijnana Parishad of India<br />

D.V. Postgraduate College,<br />

Orai - 285001, UP, India<br />

Email: rc_chandel@yahoo.com<br />

Tel.: +91 11 27495877<br />

http://vijnanaparishadofindia.org/<br />

Indonesian Mathematical Society<br />

President: Widodo<br />

Address: Fakultas MIPA Universitas Gadjah Mada,<br />

Yogyakarta, Indonesia<br />

Email: widodo_math@yahoo.com<br />

http://www.indoms-center.org<br />

Israel Mathematical Union<br />

President: Louis H. Rowen<br />

Address: Israel Mathematical Union,<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

Bar Ilan University,<br />

Ramat Gan 52900, Israel<br />

Email: rowen@math.biu.ac.il<br />

Tel.: +972 3 531 8284<br />

Fax: +972 9 741 8016<br />

http://www.imu.org.il/<br />

The Mathematical Society of Japan<br />

President: Yoichi Miyaoka<br />

Address: 34-8, Taito 1 Chome, Taito-Ku<br />

Tokyo 110-0016, Japan<br />

Email: president@mathsoc.jp<br />

Tel.: +81 03 3835 3483<br />

http://mathsoc.jp/en/<br />

The Korean Mathematical Society<br />

President: Dong Youp Suh<br />

KAIST<br />

Address: The Korean Mathematical Society,<br />

The Korea Science and Technology<br />

Center 202, 635-4,<br />

Yeoksam-dong, Kangnam-gu,<br />

Seoul 135-703, Korea<br />

Email: kms@kms.or.kr<br />

dysuh@math.kaist.ac.kr<br />

http://www.kms.or.kr/eng/<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2<br />

Malaysian Mathematical Sciences Society<br />

President: Mohd Salmi Md. Noorani<br />

Address: School of Mathematical Sciences,<br />

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,<br />

43600, Selangor D. Ehsan, Malaysia<br />

Email: msn@ukm.my<br />

Tel.: +603 8921 5712<br />

Fax.: +603 8925 4519<br />

http://www.persama.org.my/<br />

Mongolian Mathematical Society<br />

President: A. Mekei<br />

Address: P. O. Box 187, Post Office 46A,<br />

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia<br />

Email: mekei@yahoo.com<br />

Nepal Mathematical Society<br />

President: Bhadra Man Tuladhar<br />

Address: Nepal Mathematical Society,<br />

Central Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur,<br />

Kathmandu, Nepal<br />

Email: tuladhar@hotmail.com<br />

Tel.: 9841 639131<br />

00977 1 2041603 (Res)<br />

http://www.nms.org.np/<br />

New Zealand Mathematical Society<br />

President: Charles Semple<br />

Contact: Alex James<br />

Secretary<br />

Address: Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong> and<br />

Statistics,<br />

University of Canterbury,<br />

Private Bag 4800,<br />

Christchurch 8140, New Zealand<br />

Email: a.james@math.canterbury.ac.nz<br />

http://nzmathsoc.org.nz/<br />

Pakistan Mathematical Society<br />

President: Qaiser Mushtag<br />

Contact: Dr. Muhammad Aslam<br />

General Secretary<br />

Address: Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

Qauid-i-Azam University,<br />

Islamabad, Pakistan<br />

Email: secretary@pakms.org.pk<br />

Fax: +92 51 260 1053<br />

http://pakms.org.pk/


Mathematical Society of the Philippines<br />

President: Fidel Nemenzo<br />

Address: Mathematical Society of the Philippines,<br />

c/o Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

University of the Philippines,<br />

Diliman, Quezon City, 1101, Philippines<br />

Email: fidel@math.upd.edu.ph<br />

Fax: 632 920 1009<br />

http://www.mathsocietyphil.org/<br />

Mathematical Societies in Russia<br />

Moscow Mathematical Society<br />

President: S. Novikov<br />

Address: Landau Institute for Theoretical<br />

Physics,<br />

Russian Academy of Sciences,<br />

Kosygina 2<br />

117 940 Moscow GSP-1, Russia<br />

Email: joc@st-andrews.ac.uk<br />

efr@st-andrews.ac.uk<br />

http://mms.math-net.ru/<br />

St. Petersburg Mathematical Society<br />

President: A. M. Vershik<br />

Address: St. Petersburg Mathematical Society,<br />

Fontanka 27,<br />

St. Petersburg, 191023, Russia<br />

Email: matob@pdmi.ras.ru<br />

Tel.: +7 (812) 312 8829, 312 4058<br />

Fax: +7 (812) 310 5377<br />

http://www.mathsoc.spb.ru/<br />

Voronezh Mathematical Society<br />

President: S. G. Krein<br />

Address: ul. Timeryaseva 6 a ap 35<br />

394 043 Voronezh, Russia<br />

Singapore Mathematical Society<br />

President: Chengbo Zhu<br />

Address: Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong>,<br />

National University of Singapore,<br />

S17, 10 Lower Kent Ridge Road<br />

Singapore 119076<br />

Email: mathzhucb@nus.edu.sg<br />

Tel.: (65)-67795452<br />

http://sms.math.nus.edu.sg/<br />

Southeast Asian Mathematical Society<br />

President: Le Tuan Hoa<br />

Address: Managing Director<br />

VIASM (Vien NCCCT)<br />

7th Floor Ta Quang Buu Library in the<br />

Campus of HUST<br />

1 Dai Co Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam<br />

Email: lthoa@math.ac.vn<br />

http://www.seams-math.org/<br />

The Mathematical Society of ROC<br />

President: Gerard Jennhwa Chang<br />

Address: The Mathematical Society of ROC<br />

5F, Astronomy-<strong>Mathematics</strong> Building<br />

No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road<br />

Taipei 10617, Taiwan<br />

Email: gjchang@math.ntu.edu.tw<br />

tms@math.ntu.edu.tw<br />

Tel.: 886-2-2367-7625<br />

Fax: 886-2-2391-4439<br />

http://www.taiwanmathsoc.org.tw<br />

http://tms.math.ntu.edu.tw/<br />

Mathematical Association of Thailand<br />

President: Yongwimon Lenbury<br />

Address: Chair, Graduate Program Committee<br />

Department of <strong>Mathematics</strong><br />

Mahidol University<br />

Ramab Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand<br />

Email: scylb@mahidol.ac.th<br />

Tel: (662) 201-5448<br />

Fax: (662) 201-5343<br />

http://www.math.or.th/mat/<br />

Vietnam Mathematical Society<br />

Asia Pacific <strong>Mathematics</strong> <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />

President: Le Tuan Hoa<br />

Address: Managing Director<br />

VIASM (Vien NCCCT)<br />

7th Floor Ta Quang Buu Library in the<br />

Campus of HUST<br />

1 Dai Co Viet, Hanoi, Vietnam<br />

Email: lthoa@math.ac.vn<br />

Fax: (**84) 4 37563474<br />

http://www.vms.org.vn/english/vms_e.htm<br />

April 2012, Volume 2 No 2 63


MICA (P) 157/03/2012

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