The first scientific event organized by the International Centre for Mathematics in Ukraine (ICMU) took place on August 7-11, 2023. This was the school and conference “Numbers in the Universe” aiming to present the latest breakthroughs in number theory and its applications to the broad public. The event took place in the premises of the Kyiv School of Economics and the Stefan Banach International Mathematical Center in Warsaw with a live connection between the two audiences. The programme included lecture series by two Fields Medal laureates, Maryna Viazovska and Terence Tao.
On August 9, a special session of “Numbers in the Universe” dedicated to the opening of the International Centre Mathematics in Ukraine was held. The meeting started with a speech by Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine. The Polish authorities were represented by Paweł Szrot, State Secretary and Head of the Cabinet of the President of the Republic of Poland. The support of the creation of ICMU by the Ukrainian government was expressed by Ihor Taranov, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine. Wojciech Murdzek, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Education and Science of Poland, also greeted the creation of the new research centre. The audience and the honourable guests listened to a pre-recorded speech of Claire Giry, Director General of Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research of France, which this year allocated a grant of 200,000 euros for the creation of ICMU. The new Centre was also welcomed by Anatoliy Zagorodnyi, President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Marek Konazhevskyi, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and Olga Polotska, Executive Director of the National Research Foundation of Ukraine – ICMU’s strategic partner.
“Ukraine has solid mathematical traditions, there has always been a high interest in mathematics. The new Centre will be a place for intensive contact between Ukrainian researchers and their foreign colleagues, a place where young researchers will be exposed to groundbreaking ideas from around the world. ” – declared Maryna Viazovska of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, a member of the Co-ordination Committee of ICMU.
At the special session on August 9, the Co-ordination Committee presented the plans of the Centre to the participants and the honourable guests. Some scientific programmes can be launched already during the war. In particular, ICMU plans to hold summer and winter schools that will introduce students and graduate students to active areas of research. The Centre will also organise popular lectures and translation of modern mathematical literature into Ukrainian. The collaboration programme envisions that small groups of researchers would spend one to two weeks at the Centre working on a specific task. The London Mathematical Society plans to partner with ICMU by supporting its visiting scholarships programme. In the future the major regular activity of the Centre will be holding thematic programmes lasting from a month to a full semester. A thematic programme may include a range of activities such as lecture series by invited guests, weekly seminars, conferences, workshops and schools.
“The Centre is an extremely powerful project that will strengthen the leadership position of our country in world science.” – commented during the August 9 special session Olha Budnyk, Advisor to the President of Ukraine on the Fund of the President of Ukraine for the support of Education, Science and Sports. The Fund will be represented on the Supervisory Board of ICMU. The international Supervisory Board will consist of the scientists, prominent public figures and leading representatives of organisations-donors of ICMU, united by the task of supporting the Centre’s projects and supervising its financial operations and strategic planning.
The school and conference “Numbers in the Universe” exceeded all the expectations of its organizers. “Firstly, this is modern mathematics of very high level, and due to the mastery of the lecturers it becomes clear, literally simple“, – commented Masha Vlasenko, a professor at the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a member of the Co-ordination Committee of ICMU. – “We anticipated this by inviting such outstanding lecturers. But secondly, and we could not predict this: our event gathered extremely talented young people. They are understanding, asking questions, and solving problems. Our audience is a miracle that we could not hope for.“
Summarizing his week at Numbers in the Universe, Terence Tao wrote on social media: “The Ukraine mathematical community was a lot more substantial than I realized, from its eager students all the way to its two Fields medalists (Drinfeld and Viazovska). In retrospect I think a lot of this strength was historically obscured during the Cold War era […].” Talking to the journalists, Maryna Viazovska said: “Such meetings are motivating and one can learn about things one won’t read about in any book or hear about at the university. I believe that knowledge lives in the human heart, and the exchange of knowledge goes from heart to heart.”
International Centre for Mathematics in Ukraine (ICMU)
ICMU is an independent scientific institution funded by charitable donations and grants. The Centre was founded in 2022 by a group of mathematicians of Ukrainian origin with the belief that science and research would play a crucial role in the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war. The Centre is proudly supported by the algorithmic trading company XTX Markets, our Founding Donor and Principal Donor in 2023. XTX Markets has committed up to €1m in matched funding to establish the Centre. Scientific activities of ICMU are overseen by the international Scientific Board, consisting of prominent mathematicians from Ukraine and from all over the world. On the Sceintific Board of ICMU, there are three winners of the Fields Medal, the highest world award for mathematical research: Vladimir Drinfeld, Peter Scholze and Efim Zelmanov. The international Supervisory Board of ICMU is chaired by the french mathematician Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, former president of the European Mathematical Society and of the European Research Council.
