Meeting of the Executive Committee of IMU

The Executive Committee of IMU met on May 11-12, 1995 at the Collège de France.

Excepts of this meeting:

Program Committee

The members of the Program Committee were appointed at the meeting. The Chairman is Professor Phillip A. Griffiths. Any suggestion concerning plenary speakers, invited presentations, or the structure of the program in general, please write to:

Phillip A. Griffiths
Institute for Advanced Study
Olden Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540-0631 - USA
Fax: (1) 609 683-7605
e-mail: pg@math.ias.edu


Elections

Following the Resolution 6 of the last General Assembly, the Executive Committee of IMU redrafted the proposed Procedures for the Election of the Executive Committee of IMU, as well as those of ICMI and CDE. They have been sent to all IMU Adhering Organizations and National Committees as follows:

Procedures for the Election of the Executive Committee of IMU 1998

  1. Not less than a year before the meeting of the G.A., the E.C. shall request proposals for the membership of the E.C. from the National Committees for Mathematics, to be considered before the meeting of the E.C. in the spring before the Assembly. The E.C. shall then draw up its own list of nominations, making certain that each candidate is willing to serve if elected. The slate should be mailed to the National Committees at least three months before the G.A., together with background on the candidates, their fields and countries/geographic areas.

  2. After the slate drawn by the EC is known, the National Committees can make further proposals of names specifically for the offices of President, Secretary, Vice-President, and Members at large. These proposals shall reach the Secretary not less than one month before the G.A. The same information as above concerning the nominees, including their willingness to serve if elected, should be provided. The Secretary will inform all National Committees of these last proposals before the G.A. The National Committees are asked to cooperate in having their delegates to the G.A. fully informed..

  3. Further nominations may be made in writing before the last session on the first day of activities of the G.A. provided that they are drawn from names offered by the National Committees as in (1), signed by at least ten delegates and convey the same information as in items (1) and (2) above.

  4. On the first day of the meeting, the General Assembly shall appoint a Nominating Committee consisting of:

    a) the President (chairman),
    b) all Past Presidents who are present (ex-officio),
    c) eight further delegates.

    Election to (c) shall be from names either proposed by the President or proposed and seconded from the floor; and shall be by show of hands unless the meeting decides otherwise.

  5. The Nominating Committee shall propose a slate from the nominations made under (1), (2) and (3) above and shall make it known to the meeting.

    No person shall be a candidate for more than one office.

  6. The General Assembly shall then elect the new President, Vice-President, Secretay and members at large by written ballots.

    The voting slips shall contain all the names nominated under (5) and (3) (unless a candidate withdraws), but no others. A vote shall be invalid if more names are marked in any category than the number of places to be filled (i.e., one each for President and Secretary, two for Vice-Presidents and five for Members at large). A candidate for President or Secretary may be elected only if unopposed or if he or she obtains a majority of the votes cast. If the first ballot is indecisive, there shall be a second ballot. In the ballots for the Vice-Presidents and Members at large, the two or five candidates respectively who obtain the largest numbers of votes shall be elected. In the event of a tie, the President shall decide.

Note: Statute (9) provides (inter alia) that: "each delegation shall be free to cast the votes to which it is entitled either as a unit or divided in such a manner as it may determine".


Procedures for the Election of the Executive Committee of ICMI

The rules for the election of the Executive Committee of ICMI are similar to those for the election of the Executive Committee of IMU with the same Nominating Committee.

The E.C. of IMU shall request proposals for the membership of the E.C. of ICMI from the National Committees for Mathematics and will conduct extensive consultations with the existing Executive Committee of ICMI before proposing slates to the Nominating Committee.

No person can be a candidate for more than one office.


Procedures for the Election of CDE

The rules for the election of the Commission of Development and Exchange are similar to those for the election of the Executive Committees of IMU and ICMI with the same Nominating Committee.

The E.C. of IMU shall request proposals for the membership of CDE from the National Committees for Mathematics and will conduct extensive consultations with the existing CDE before proposing slates to the Nominating Committee.

No person can be a candidate for more than one office.


Scientific Meeting

In the last ten years or so, the Executive Committee and the local mathematical community has been organizing scientific meetings, on the occasion of most of the EC ordinary anual meetings. In the week of May 9-12, 1995, one of these conferences took place at the Institut Henri Poincaré.The list of invited speakers consisted of some Past Presidents and Secretary of IMU and the new members of the EC:

Vladimir Arnold
Henri Cartan
Simon Donaldson
B. Engquist
Ludwig Faddeev
Olli Lehto
S. Mori
Jürgen Moser
K. R. Parthasaraty

The Proceedings of the conference are published in this issue of the Bulletin, starting on page 23 Professor Ludwig Faddeev contributed to the Proceeding but was unable to attend the meeting. Other scientific meetings were supported by IMU as described in the report of activities for 1995 on page 14


Joint activities at ICM-98 (resolutions of the General Assembly, 1994)

The Executive Committee of IMU will ask the Program Committee to take steps to implement the resolutions 3, 4 and 5 of the General Assembly, 1994. The EC also decided to invite the members of the PC to attend the Congress. Concerning ICMI, it was decided to ask the Program Committee and the Local Organizing Committee to announce their activities in the Program of the Congress. The EC decided to invite the President of ICMI to be part of the panel. As for ICHM, the EC also decided to ask the Program Committee and the Local Organizing Committee to make some room for their activities, and to announce their activities in the Program of the Congress.


Program "Turn of the Century" - World Mathematical Year 2000

Following the Resolution 2 of the General Assembly 1994, The EC discussed the planning of World Mathematical Year 2000, in particular the organization of activities such as an invitation to a select group of outstanding mathematicians to present their views on topics they expect to be central to mathematical activity in the next century and the selection of a number of symposia, some possibly organized together with other scientific bodies, dedicated to mathematics, its applications and to its role in society, and also events held under the auspices of ICMI, CDE and ICHM. To select the authors of a book that should be published by early 2000 year, on the mathematical perspectives for the 21st century, the EC nominated the following committee: Vladimir Arnold (Chairman), Barry Mazur, Michael Attiyah, Peter Lax . The discussions about other activities shall proceed and some decisions should be taken in the next meeting of the EC in April, 1996.


Books/Journals for Russian Mathematicians

The Executive Committee decided to continue with the contribution of US 5,000 to the a main mathematical library in Moscow through the Moscow Mathematical Society and the Steklov Institute or Euler Institute at St. Peterburg. This is a renewal of a previous grant in the same amount. On that occasion the gesture was appreciated by the Russian colleagues and the deliver of books/journals well accomplished.