Exploring the International Mathematical Union

13.12.2023, 14:00  –  Campus Golm, Building 9, Room 2.22
Institutskolloquium

Norbert Schappacher (Strasbourg), Marie-Françoise Roy (Rennes)

2-2:45pm: Framing Global Mathematics.
The International Mathematical Union between Theorems and Politics
Norbert Schappacher (Strasbourg)

Abstract:
I will present examples that show how national and international structures have influenced, and continue to influence, the professional life of mathematicians and thus mathematical research itself. The talk is based on a  book I wrote with the same title, which  describes the history of the growing internationalization of mathematics since the 19th century.
(Thanks to the initiative of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), the pdf of this book can be dowloaded for free from the Springer website.)

3:15-4 pm: A data analysis of women's trails among ICM speakers, illustrating the gender gap.
Marie-Françoise Roy (Rennes)

Abstract:

Women mathematicians attended the ICMs from the start. The invitation of Laura Pisati to present a lecture in 1908 in Rome, the plenary talk of Emmy   Noether in 1932 in Zurich, and the Fields Medal of Maryam Mirzakhani at ICM 2014 in Seoul are significant milestones. We follow the footprints of women among the ICM invited speakers, analyzing their demographics and topic distributions, and provide glimpses into their diverse biographies. The situation at the vICM 2022, not included in our paper, will  also be discussed. I will end mentioning the work started by the Standing Committee for Gender Equality in Science to gather information about women in various scientific communities.

The talk is mainly based on a joint paper from 2019 with Helena Mihaljević "A data analysis of women's trails among ICM speakers", arXiv:1903.02543

Presentation.pdf