The following letter has been sent to all Adhering Organizations and National Committees of IMU country members and many other mathematical organizations:
We are writing on behalf of the International Mathematical Union to draw your attention to a new initiative of putting the IMU on the World Wide Web. The Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik in Berlin (ZIB) has been working together with the Executive Committee of the IMU to compose a "home page" for IMU. You can access this home page using any of the standard Internet tools, such as Mosaic, Netscape, etc. through the URL:
Gopher access is possible through the following address:
The IMU server can be accessed via telnet as follows:
We invite you to try this out and send us your comments.
We hope this WWW home page will serve several purposes. The first is to inform all members of the international mathematical community of what the IMU is doing. Secondly, they can find there descriptions of various programs from which they can benefit:
Thirdly, the IMU server is also a collection of data that everyone can use to find the addresses of the main mathematical organizations of the world. We are planning to extend the scope of the IMU server so that it will become a true "home page of the world of mathematics". You can already find a number of links to mathematical and mathematics related information offered around the world. Just look at the "Links to the Mathematical World" in the IMU server.
Fourthly, the IMU server will give everyone immediate access to the latest information on the next International Congress (ICM98 in Berlin), as well as the ability to preregister for this congress by the WWW server of ICM98 that can be "clicked" in the IMU server or can be directly accessed through the following URL:
The ICM98 server contains a forms page for "preliminary preregistration". This is not a formal registration yet. Everybody preregistered for ICM98 will be informed in the future automatically about the progress of the organization of the congress by email and will receive the final registration material etc. this way. Please encourage your colleagues interested in ICM98 to preregister for the congress.
Whoever does not have the possibility to use the advanced Internet tools described above can send an email to the following address:
and writing
into the SUBJECT line.
Inthe body of the mail the following information should be contained:
Every member country of IMU is listed in the IMU server. We have one very specific request:
Can you examine the entry dealing with your country, and check whether the names and addresses are correct? We want to make every effort to keep this data collection up to date and correct. Of course we would be happy if you could provide us with additional information that we could add to the entry of your country. In particular, links to existing or planned servers of mathematical societies, institutes etc. are most welcome. The best way to inform us of any changes is to email us the corrections and suggestions to
We have a second request. We are aware of the fact that Internet communication is sometimes slow due to network overload. We would therefore be glad if some institution in your country would agree to mirror both the IMU and the ICM98 servers so that mathematicians in your country have a faster and more comfortable access. Technical details concerning this matter will be handled by the Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik in Berlin (ZIB). An institution willing to mirror the servers should contact Martin Grötschel (email: groetschel@zib-berlin.de).
Finally we have a third request. We would be happy if you could distribute the information contained in this letter to the mathematicians in your society and your country in whatever form you find appropriate (emailing a copy of this letter to interested colleagues, a note about this letter in your newsletter, etc.).
Sincerely yours,
Addresses:
Martin Grötschel
Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum für Informationstechnik
Takustr. 7
D-14195 Berlin
Germany
Phone: +49/30/84185-210 // +49/30/84185-208 (secr.) // +49/30/84185-125 (fax)
E-Mail: groetschel@zib.de
David Bryant Mumford
Dept. of Mathematics
Harvard University
Science Center, One Oxford St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
Phone: +1 617 495-5487
Fax: +1 617 495 5132
E-Mail: mumford@math.harvard.edu
Jacob Palis
Instituto Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA)
Estrada Dona Castorina 110
Jardim Botanico
22460-320 Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Brazil
Phone: +55 21-511 1749 or 21-294 9447
Fax: +55 21-512 4112 or 21-512 4115
E-Mail: jpalis@impa.br or imu@impa.br