The World Mathematical Year 2000

In the "Declaration of Rio de Janeiro on Mathematics" of May 6, 1992, IMU has declared the year 2000 to be the World Mathematical Year, WMY 2000. The Declaration of Rio de Janeiro sets three goals:

• the determination of great mathematical challenges of the 21st century,
• the promulgation of mathematics, both pure and applied, as one of the main keys for development, and
• the recognition of the systematic presence of mathematics in the information society (the image of mathematics).

The impetus for establishing the first of these three goals occurred when the IMU General Assembly in Kobe, Japan (August 1990) adopted the following resolution proposed by the United States delegation:

Whereas the IMU wishes to mark the turn of the century in a manner appropriate to the standard set by David Hilbert in 1900, the General Assembly directs the Executive Committee to set up a committee to report to the adhering bodies by September 1991 [on] how to accomplish [this so] that in 1994 the Assembly can discuss it and decide how to proceed.

A server for the World Mathematical Year 2000 has been established in Paris. This server reports about the progress in organizing the World Mathematical Year 2000. Moreover, it offers all newsletters published about WMY 2000.

Actually, two different committees were set up, the first one to promote the visibility of Mathematics to the general public, as reported by Mireille Chaleyat-Maurel.

The second committee was in charge of editing a book by outstanding mathematicians to celebrate the state of the art in Mathematics at the turn of the century. This has been accomplished with the publication by IMU of "Mathematics: Frontiers and Perspectives", edited by: V. Arnold, University of Paris IX, France, and Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow, Russia, M. Atiyah, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, P. Lax, New Yor University - Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York, and B. Mazur, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA., as reported below:

An IMU Book by Prominent Mathematicians
World Mathematical Year 2000

This remarkable book is a celebration of the state of Mathematics at the end of the millennium. Produced under the auspices of the International Mathematical Union - IMU, the volume was born as part of the activities observing the Workd Mathematical Year 2000.

The volume consists of 30 articles written by some of the most influential mathematicians of our time. Authors of 15 contributions were recognized in various years by the IMU as recipients of the Fields Medal, from K. F. Roth (Fields Medalist, 1958) to W. T. Gowers (Fields Medalist, 1998). The articles offer valuable reflections about the amazing mathematical progress we have witnessed in this century and insightful spaculations about the possible development of mathematics over the next century.

Some aritcles formulate importante problems, challenging future mathematicians. Other pay explicit homage to the famous set of Hilbert Problems posed one hundred years ago, giving enlightening commentary. Yet other papers offer a deeply personal perspective, allowing singular insight into the minds and hearts of people doing mathematics today.

Mathematics: Frontiers and Perspectives is a unique volume that pertains to a broad mathematical audience of various backgrounds and levels of interest. It offers readers to and unequaled insight into the wonderful world of mathematics at this important juncture: the turn of the millennium.

The work is one of those rare volumes that can be browsed, and if you do simple browse through it, you get a wonderful sense of mathematics today. Yet it also can be intensely studied on a detailed technical level for gaining insight into some of the great problems on which mathematicians are currently working.