News Release

Mathematical Challenges of the 21st Century

For further information, contact:
Allyn Jackson
American Mathematical Society
axj@ams.org

26 July 2000

PROVIDENCE, RI---At the heart of many of the great intellectual challenges of the 21st century lies a mathematical challenge. Whether the goal is to map the human genome, or to explore the potential of quantum computers, or to unify the fundamental forces of nature, some of the basic questions that arise are mathematical ones. Even those challenges that grow directly out of mathematics itself, such as the mystery of how prime numbers are distributed among all natural numbers, often exhibit surprising connections to seemingly unrelated areas. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of mathematics at the turn of the century is a flowering of connections between mathematics and all branches of science.

These connections will be explored in an extraordinary meeting, Mathematical Challenges of the 21st Century, to be held August 7-12 on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles. Sponsored by the American Mathematical Society, this meeting will feature lectures by over thirty international leaders in mathematics who will outline some of the major challenges within the field and along its borders with a wide range of other areas. Taken together, the lectures will present a view of the influence of mathematics across the entire landscape of human endeavor.

At a famous lecture in 1900 in Paris, the renowned German mathematician David Hilbert presented a set of twenty-three outstanding mathematical problems of the time. These problems came to have a profound influence on the field of mathematics. Mathematical Challenges of the 21st Century harks back to Hilbert's famous lecture by providing a sweeping panorama of mathematics today. By bringing together top thinkers to explore the current state and probable future of mathematics, this meeting promises to be a historic event.

Four short pieces outlining some of the main themes of Mathematical Challenges of the 21st Century are available on the Web:

Geometry
Mathematics and the biological and life sciences
Mathematics and computer science
Mathematics and physics

The full program for Mathematical Challenges of the 21st Century is available on the web site http://www.ams.org/amsmtgs/mathchall.html. For information about press registration, please contact Allyn Jackson, axj@ams.org.

Founded in 1888 to further mathematical research and scholarship, the 30,000-member AMS fulfills its mission through programs and services that promote mathematical research and its uses, strengthen mathematical education, and foster awareness and appreciation of mathematics and its connections to other disciplines and to everyday life.