Visions of Mathematics: GAFA 2000 Special Volume, Part II

These two volumes are the result of the meeting on Visions of Mathematics — Towards 2000, held in the summer of 1999 in Israel, partly in Tel Aviv and partly at a resort on the Dead Sea. Like at many other meetings held around that time, the idea was to have the speakers present overviews of how mathematics looked at the turn of the century and, perhaps, to have them outline the future as they saw it. The conference also included more informal discussions of mathematical ideas and their roles, some of which were transcribed and are included in the second volume.

These two volumes originally appeared as two special issues of the journal GAFA Geometric and Functional Analysis, and some of the papers included do have the feel of formal journal articles rather than broad overviews. Very few readers will be interested in more than one or two articles, so these volumes are more appropriate for libraries than for individuals.