solidarità al Prof. Vassiliev

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Ho recentemente appreso, con sorpresa e rincrescimento, del fermo e della successiva multa comminati all’illustre matematico Victor Vassiliev per la sua partecipazione il 21 Febbraio scorso ad una protesta pacifica in appoggio ai difensori del caso di Piazza Bolotnya.
Con la presente intendo far presente la costernazione mia e di molti colleghi per questa notizia e associarmi ai messaggi di solidarietà inviati dai presidenti della European Mathematical Society e della American Mathematical Society, nella speranza che il caso di Victor Vassiliev si risolva senza nessun onere legale a suo carico, e che, più in generale, in Russia come altrove in tutto il mondo, sia garantito a chiunque il diritto alla pacifica espressione dei suoi punti di vista, anche se sgraditi a chi detiene il potere.
Ciro Ciliberto
Presidente UMI
[messaggio inviato all’Ambasciata Russa in Italia ambrus@ambrussia.it]

Book Prize of the Unione Matematica Italiana

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1. The Unione Matematica Italiana (UMI) has established a Prize, sponsored by Springer-Verlag, of (gross) € 4000, to honour an excellent, original monograph in any field of mathematics.
2. The first edition of the Prize will be awarded during the general UMI congress which will take place in Siena, September 2015.
3. The recipient of the Prize is determined by the Prize Committee. The Prize Committee members are the President of UMI, who will chair the Committee, and four more mathematicians designated by the Scientific Committee of UMI, two at least of them chosen among the members of the Editorial Board of the Springer series UMI Lecture Notes in Mathematics (UMI LNiM).
4. The Prize is awarded for an excellent, original mathematical monograph presenting the latest developments in an active research area of Mathematics, to which the author(s) made important contributions in recent years. The monograph must be original, unpublished, not subject to any copyright restrictions, written in English, and of at least 100 and at most 300 pages. In exceptional cases, manuscripts in languages other than English may be considered.
5. The Prize Committee will select the work to which the prize will be awarded and formulate the prize citation. In the absence of suitable candidates, the Committee can decide not to attribute the prize.
6. The Prize Committee will submit, on behalf of the author(s), the prize-winning monograph to the UMI LNiM. If accepted by the Editorial Board, the manuscript will be published in the series, subject to the usual regulations concerning copyright and author’s rights. The author(s) will sign a standard publishing agreement with Springer. Other submitted monographs, if short-listed by the Committee, may also be published, with the same procedure, in series.
7. The applications and nomination letters must be sent to the UMI office (Piazza di Porta San Donato 5, I-40126 Bologna), and received not later than November 30, 2014.
8. Applications and nominations must contain:
– a CV of the authors(s) of the submitted monograph;
– a description of the monograph, stressing its original and innovative aspects (no more than 10 pages);
– a hard copy of the monograph;
– a pdf file of the manuscript must also be sent, within the above terms, to the email address of UMI: Unione Matematica Italiana dipmat.umi@unibo.it);
– the names of at least three specialists who may be contacted as possible referees;
– a statement of acceptance of the conditions stated in no. 6.
Submitted monographs should preferably be typeset in TeX.

Materiali XXXI Convegno UMI-CIIM

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Sono disponibili nella sezione “Attività della CIIM – Convegni” alla voce “2013 – XXXI Convegno UMI-CIIM – Salerno “FARE MATEMATICA NELLA SCUOLA DI TUTTI – dedicato a Emma Castelnuovo” i contributi dei conferenzieri e relatori

EU-MATHS-IN

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As a follow-up of the initiative Forward Look Mathematics in Industry supported by the European Science Foundation
http://www.esf.org/fileadmin/Public_documents/Publications/mathematics&industry.pdf,
the European Mathematical Society (EMS, via its Applied Mathematics Committee) and European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry (ECMI) promoted the foundation of
European Service Network of Mathematics for Industry and Innovation
(EU-MATHS-IN).
EU-MATHS-IN is conceived as a network of National Networks that exist or will be formed in European countries. At the moment of the foundation (26th of November, 2013) six NNs joined: AMIES (France), KoMSO (Germany), Math-In (Spain), Smith Institute (Great Britain), Sportello Matematico (Italy), and PWN (The Nederlands). Few weeks later, the Polish and Hungarian NNs were incorporated in the network. Other countries are expected to join in the coming weeks. The Executive Committee of EU-MATHS-IN is formed by: Mario Primicerio (President), Volker Mehrmann (Secretary), Wil Schilders (Treasurer), Maria J.Esteban (for the Applied Mathematics Committee of EMS), and Magnus Fontes (for ECMI).
We all know that mathematics has become a key enabling technology in all areas of science and applications. The development of new products or production processes today is dominated by the use of simulation and optimization methods that, based on a detailed mathematical modeling, support or even replace the costly production of prototypes and classical trial-and-error approaches. In the new EU program Horizon2020 the projects are to be focused, as a rule, not on the development of particular disciplines but on facing the emerging challenges in science, technology and society in general.
On the other hand, it has to be noted that mathematical modelling and simulation of the truly challenging real world problems using the mathematics conserved in the form of the software packages used as black boxes represents a dangerous illusion which will fire back in the form of failures. Even worse, such failures may not be immediately observable. Under the (false) assumption that the challenges which are identified today can be addressed by routine applications of the state-of-the-art mathematical results available, it may seem that further development of mathematics as a discipline is not a priority which can be justified by economically measured efficiency. As justified by repeated studies, just the opposite is true.
Even more importantly, without such development, how the challenges which will emerge twenty years from now will be solved? Definitely not by black box routine applications of the decades old mathematical results, petrified in the form of the obsolete software.
The new organization EU-MATHS-IN has been established to increase the impact of mathematics on innovations in key technologies and to foster the development of new modeling, simulation and optimization tools. It aims (both for companies and for scientists of other disciplines) to become a dedicated one-stop-shop and service unit to coordinate and facilitate the required exchanges in the field of application-driven mathematical research and its exploitation for innovations in industry, science and society.
EU-MATHS-IN aims to leverage the impact of mathematics on innovations in key technologies by enhanced communication and information exchange between and among the involved stakeholders on a European level. It shall become a dedicated one-stop shop (both for companies and for scientists of other disciplines) to coordinate and facilitate the required exchanges in the field of application-driven mathematical research and its exploitation for innovations in industry, science and society.
For this it shall build an e-infrastructure that provides tailored access to information and facilitates communication and exchange by player-specific sets of services. It will act as facilitator, translator, educator and link between and among the various players and their communities in Europe.
For further information on the strategic and short-term goals of EU-MATHS-IN, on its structure and activity, you are invited to visit the website http://www.eu-maths-in.eu/

Auguri ai soci per l’anno 2014

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Caro Socio,
questo messaggio vuol innanzitutto rivolgervi i più fervidi auguri di una buona fine anno e di serene feste.
Come ci si poteva aspettare, a causa della crisi economica attuale, sono venuti a mancare alcuni importanti finanziamenti (ministeriali) alla nostra associazione. Nonostante ciò abbiamo deciso di non aumentare la quota associativa invariata.
Tuttavia, per un necessario taglio ai costi, abbiamo deciso di inviare, nel 2014, quattro dei sei fascicoli del Notiziario in formato solamente elettronico.
L’Elenco di Soci, l’Indirizzario dei Dipartimenti universitari e, ovviamente, la rivista, “La Matematica nella Società e nella Cultura”, verranno comunque inviati in forma cartacea.
Auspichiamo vivamente che tu condivida questa scelta e ci dia un aiuto, anche solo regolarizzando con puntualità la quota associativa.
Nel caso tu voglia continuare a ricevere tutti i numeri del Notiziario in forma cartacea, ti sarà chiesto – all’atto dell’iscrizione – una maggiorazione della quota sociale di 10 euro, tenendo conto delle spese di stampa e spedizione. (Questa opzione è riservata solo a coloro che rinnoveranno l’iscrizione entro il 31 gennaio 2014. Chi avesse già portato a termine l’affiliazione può segnalare all’UMI l’eventuale desiderio di ricevere TUTTI i numeri del Notiziario in forma cartacea).
Come accaduto in passato è intenzione del Presidente, mia e degli altri componenti degli organi direttivi dell’Unione Matematica Italiana di rivolgersi costantemente e con sempre maggiore frequenza ai Soci, sia per via diretta, sia attraverso le notizie che compaiono sul nostro sito web.
Approfitto per segnalarti alcune novità:
• Come già detto sopra, la quota associativa non è aumentata, anzi abbiamo previsto agevolazioni per i soci giovani, i soci non strutturati nell’Università e per gli iscritti ad altre società matematiche italiane (https://umi.dm.unibo.it/area-soci/associarsi/).
• A partire dal 2014 Il Bollettino dell’Unione Matematica Italiana, pur rimando di proprietà dell’Unione Matematica Italiana sarà pubblicato dalla Springer. Potete trovare le informazioni sul comitato editoriale e le istruzioni per sottomettere i vostri articoli sul sito web alla pagina https://umi.dm.unibo.it/editoria/bollettino-dellu-m/
• Il sito web dell’UMI è stato recentemente ridisegnato e arricchito di contenuti. Fateci sapere i vostri commenti.
• L’UMI collabora con la SIMAI nella gestione del sito Maddmaths!! (http://maddmaths.simai.eu/)
• Alle Olimpiadi Internazionali della Matematica, l’Italia, che vi partecipa dal 1967, con un trend molto positivo negli ultimi anni, ha ottenuto dei risultati molto buoni. Le molte attività connesse con le gare matematiche (che la Commissione dell’UMI per le Olimpiadi segue con encomiabile impegno e dedizione, hanno, al di là dei risultati, un effetto assai positivo e un notevole impatto sociale, coinvolgono più di 1700 istituti di istruzione superiore, e contribuiscono alla diffusione dell’educazione scientifica e del pensiero matematico nel nostro paese, uno degli scopi statutari della nostra associazione (http://olimpiadi.dm.unibo.it/).
• E’ significativo ancora segnalare l’ottima riuscita del Premio Archimede, rivolto ad attività laboratoriali di scolaresche di istituti di istruzione secondaria superiore (https://umi.dm.unibo.it/documenti-2/premio-archimede-2013/).
Ricordo infine che osservazioni, suggerimenti e proposte sono sempre benvenuti (ti ricordo l’indirizzo email a cui puoi scrivere dipmat.umi@unibo.it per ogni commento, segnalazione, ecc.).
Credo infine sia utile ricordare che il peso, l’utilità e l’immagine della nostra associazione dipendono fortemente dal sostegno di un numero consistente di Soci e dal loro impegno nella ricerca, nella didattica e nell’organizzazione.
Un caro vivo saluto ed un caldo augurio di fine 2013 ed inizio anno nuovo.
Giuseppe Anichini
Segretario dell’Unione

ANCORA SU HORIZON 2020

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Riceviamo dalla Presidente della EMS la seguente comunicazione che volentieri
diffondiamo.
Dear Colleague,
The European Commission has published a call for independent experts to evaluate proposals for EU funding under HORIZON 2020, and also for other activities like monitoring, programme evaluation and policy development.
See the press release:
http://ec.europa.eu/research/index.cfm?pg=newsalert&year=2013&na=na-221113
We encourage expert mathematicians to apply. For that one should have to go first to the participant portal
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/home
and create an account.
The call remains open for the lifetime of HORIZON 2020.
We will appreciate your collaboration in the distribution of this information.
With best regards,
Marta Sanz-Solé
President
The European Mathematical Society
http://www.euro-math-soc.eu/

Fermat Prize 2013 awarded to de Lellis and Hairer

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The Fermat Prize awarded once every two years by the Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse has been awarded jointly to Camillo De Lellis for his fundamental contributions (in collaboration with László Székelyhidi) to the conjecture of Onsager about dissipative solutions of the Euler-equations and for his work to the regularity of minimal surfaces; and to Martin Hairer for his contributions to the analysis of stochastic partial differential equations, especially for the regularity of their solutions and convergence to the equilibrium.
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat_Prize

L’Unione Matematica Italiana si congratula vivamente col collega De Lellis per questo meritatissimo riconoscimento.

Medaglie ICMI 2013

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La Commissione per le medaglie ICMI 2013 ha terminato i suoi lavori.
I vincitori sono:
– Michèle Artigue (Paris) – The Felix Klein Medal for lifetime achievement
– Frederick Leung (Hong Kong) – The Hans Freudenthal Medal for a major cumulative programme of research
Congratulazioni vivissime: è un meritato riconoscimento al loro contributo all’educazione matematica e quindi a tutta la comunità che lavora in questo ambito!
Avremo l’opportunità di congratularci con loro all’ICME 13 in Amburgo nel 2016.
Ferdinando Arzarello (Presidente ICMI)

Women in Mathematics Committee

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La nostra collega Elisabetta Strickland è stata nominata membro della Women in Mathematics Committee della European Mathematical Society per il periodo 2014-2021. L’Unione Matematica Italiana si compiace di tale scelta e le invia vive congratulazioni.
Riportiamo una breve descrizione del Committee.
This committee’s remit is to address issues relating to the involvement, retention and progression of women in mathematics. It should also support and promote the recognition of the achievements of women mathematicians. It should discuss and be ready to support appropriate initiatives to this end coming from either groups or individuals. The committee should act as the coordinating body for the committees for women in mathematics of EMS member societies, and it will also cooperate with other associations for women in mathematics.
http://www.euro-math-soc.eu/comm-women.html

The second Stephen Smale Prize

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The second Stephen Smale Prize will be awarded in the meeting Foundations of Computational Mathematics (FoCM) in Montevideo in December 2014. We hereby call for nominations of candidates.
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Nominations (self-nominations excluded) should be sent to FoCM secretary Antonella Zanna at: Antonella.Zanna@math.uib.no
Deadline: 24:00 (GMT), March 10, 2014
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Summary of prize rules (see http://focm-society.org/smale_prize.php for full details):
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* The goal of the Smale Prize is to recognize major achievements in furthering the understanding of the connections between mathematics and computation, including the interfaces between pure and applied mathematics, numerical analysis and computer science.
* To be eligible for the prize a candidate must be in his or her early to mid career, meaning, typically, removed by at most 10 years of his/her (first) doctoral degree by the first day of the FoCM meeting (Dec 11, 2014). Allowances might be made for atypical life circumstances.
* Each nomination should be accompanied by a brief case for support. The nomination should include at least three letters of recommendation.
* The recipient of the prize is expected to give a lecture at the meeting. A written version of this lecture (tagged as the Smale Prize Lecture) will be included in the volume of plenary talks.