Public Resources 77
thematic programs that I myself had a key role in developing include: Statistical Inference, Learning, and Models for Big Data( winter 2014 – 15); Computer Algebra( fall 2015 – 16); Multiscale Scientific Computing: From Quantum Physics and Chemistry to Material Science and Fluid Mechanics( winter 2015 – 16); Unlikely Intersections, Heights, and Efficient Congruencing( winter 2016 – 17), Geometric Analysis( fall 2017 – 18); and Teichmüller Theory and Its Connections to Geometry, Topology and Dynamics( fall 2018 – 19). The range of topics— from statistics to computer science to scientific computing to number theory to differential geometry to topology and dynamical systems— attests to the breadth of the programs of the Institute.
The Fields Medal Symposium
The Fields Medal Symposium, the annual event so successfully initiated by Ed Bierstone, developed and matured during my tenure as Director. This event is a brilliant star in the Institute’ s activities, really contributing to its international profile as well as its outreach to the public. To put the Fields Medal Symposium in perspective, it may be useful to compare it to several other international scientific events. Winners of the Abel Prize are awarded their prize at an Abel Symposium focused on their contributions. Nobel Laureates have Nobel Symposia dedicated to their work. Both these major prizes are announced well in advance of the respective award ceremonies, allowing lead time to organize the accompanying symposia. A feature of the Fields Medal, however, is that, according to tradition, the medal winners are only announced at the award ceremony itself, which takes place during the International Congress of Mathematics. There is thus no lead time for symposium organization. The substitute is our annual series of Fields Medal Symposia in Toronto, with wide publicity, public lectures by the medallists being honoured, and mathematical