Advanced announcement

The "International Congress of Mathematicians", the largest and most important mathematical congress worldwide, is being held from 18th to 27th August 1998 in Berlin.

• Some 4000 participants are expected.
• It is being held in Germany for the first time in 94 years.
• During the Congress the Fields Medal will be awarded, the "Nobel Prize" for mathematicians.
• An extensive fringe programme will include an exhibition "Hands-on Mathematics" with a "VideoMath" festival and a number of scientific events for non-experts.

To the members of the press, radio and television:

In the March we will be drawing up a list of the most important (and accessible) mathematical topics from the plenary lecture. Can you please name a contact in your organisation, so that we can pass this information on to them directly? You can ring the PR Office of the TU Berlin (Dr. Kristina Zerges or Janny Glaesmer) under Tel. +49 30 314-22919 or 23922, send a fax to +49 30 314-23909, or send e-mail to: pressestelle@tu-berlin.de

In August, Berlin will be the centre of the mathematical world. From 18th to 27th August, more than 4000 mathematicians from some 100 countries will be visiting the city for the International Congress of Mathematicians. This is the largest mathematical congress worldwide, and is one of the highlights of the mathematical calendar. Held every four years, it is attended by leading scientists, the most powerful publishing companies and software houses, as well as representatives of industry. Recent congresses have met in Zurich, Kyoto, Berkeley and Warsaw. The last International Congress in Germany was held in Heidelberg 94 years ago.

The importance of the International Congress in enhanced by the award ceremony for the "Fields Medal", which is often referred to as the "Nobel Prize" for mathematics; the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences does not actually provide for a mathematics' Nobel Prize. The Fields Medals are presented by the International Mathematical Union every four years to between two and four outstanding mathematicians below the age of forty. At the opening meeting on 18th August 1998 in the International Congress Centre (ICC), the Nevanlinna Prize will also be presented - an award for scientists working in theoretical computer science.

The main programme of events taking place at the Technical University Berlin includes 180 lectures from all fields of mathematics - with 21 key-note speeches which will be delivered in plenary session by some of the most highly-rated scientists. Discussions will consider trends and developments over recent years and new problems will be brought up. The papers to be presented are selected by a programme committee appointed by the International Mathematicians Union and its composition is not made public.

One plenary session which will meet with considerable public interest is the speech by Peter W. Shor from AT&T Labs, who will be reporting on the latest developments in computer science. Shor developed a procedure for fast factorisation of large numbers on quantum computers. The

development of this new generation of computers using the physics of the quantum theory is still in its early stages. However, with a prototype it would be possible to use Shor's ideas to read encoded data very quickly. This could mark the beginning of a new era of electronic data processing. On the strength of his revolutionary new work, Peter Shor is one of the favourites to win the Nevanlinna Prize.

The scientific programme of the Congress is backed up by a number of public events. An exhibition in Berlin Urania, "Hands-On Mathematics", will present important developments to the general public using models, graphs and explanatory texts. The festival "VideoMath" will show mathematical films from all over the world which use computer simulation to combine the presentation of abstract science with aesthetics.

A high point of the general programme will be a lecture delivered by the British mathematician Andrew Wiles, who will be reporting on developments in number theory over the last twenty years on 19th August 1998. Wiles, who teaches at Princeton University, hit the headlines in 1995 when he published his proof of "Fermat's Last Theorem" - a mathematical challenge which had puzzled some of the world's finest brains for 390 years. Considerable public interest is expected and this event has been moved to the Auditorium Maximum of the TU Berlin.

For German mathematicians, the International Congress of Mathematicians 1998 is an event of major importance. Over the last fifty years they have applied three times to host the congress without success. In 1994, the General Assembly of the International Mathematical Union finally voted unanimously for Berlin, in a selection procedure resembling that for the Olympic Games. An organizing committee of 24 began work on the preparations three years ago. President of the committee is Martin Groetschel, Professor of Mathematics at the Technical University Berlin and Vice-President of the Konrad Zuse Centre for Information Technology Berlin (ZIB). Honorary President is Friedrich Hirzebruch, former director of the Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn. Vice-President is Prof. Martin Aigner of the Free University Berlin, who is also responsible for the public relations work for the congress.

The history of the congress is closely linked with the development of mathematics in Germany. The first "International Congress of Mathematicians" was held in 1897 in Zurich. Two German mathematicians were involved in bringing this about: Felix Klein, a prominent geometrician and founder of the German Union of Mathematicians, and Georg Cantor, who founded set theory. Another German mathematician led to the second conference becoming an historical event: David Hilbert, widely regarded by his contemporaries as the greatest mathematician of his generation. Hilbert presented a list of 23 research problems for his fellow mathematicians to solve. Many of these problems have since been solved, and each solution proved to be a major event.

Prof. Martin Groetschel, President of the Organising Committee, on the ICM 1998:

"We have the heavy responsibility of organising an international congress which is as attractive as previous congresses and which can match, if not exceed their high quality. But we do not want just to offer an excellent forum for the scientists. The congress should also have an impact on a wider public. It should present the many facets of mathematics, its relevance for example for music and art, and show the wide range of potential applications. This is why we are putting considerable effort into organising the various exhibitions, concerts, the VideoMath festival, and the public lectures at the Berlin Urania."

Vasco Alexander Schmidt,
German Union of Mathematicians