ICM 2010 to Spotlight Ramanujan

July 2, 2009

In August 2010, the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) will highlight the current state of mathematics. The largest international congress in the world of mathematics will be hosted by the University of Hyderabad in India.

A fitting location, ancient India was a launching pad for new ideas in algebra, such as the place value system with the use of zero for representing numbers. There were also the mathematicians in Kerala who anticipated ideas about calculus two centuries before Newton. When thinking of India and mathematics in the twentieth century, Ramanujan comes to mind.

In a run-up to the congress, R. Balasubramanian, the Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, noted that Ramanujan is the acclaimed genius behind mathematical discoveries such as the Landau-Ramanujan constant, Mock theta functions, the Ramanujan-Soldner constant, and others.

High points of this congress, which will be the 26th since 1897, will include the awarding of the Fields Medal, the Nevanlinna Prize, and the Gauss Prize. A new prize, the Chern Medal, will also be awarded.

Source: Express Buzz, June 23