News
Third Annual Conference “Women in Mathematics in South-Eastern Europe”
The International Center for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS-Sofia), the Union of Bulgarian Mathematicians and the Institute of the Mathematical Sciences of the Americas at the University of Miami (IMSA) are organizing the Third International Conference Women in Mathematics in South-Eastern Europe. The conference will be held on December 8 and 9, 2022, hosted by the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.
The initiative Women in Mathematics of South-Eastern Europe, aiming at promoting the role of female mathematicians, started in Dec 2020, when the inaugural conference took place. Even then, the organizers intended to turn the scientific forum into a prestigious annual event. A special distinguished guest of the inaugural conference was prof. Mina Teicher from the Department of Mathematics and Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel, Director of Emmy Noether Institute for Mathematics.
One of the main goals of the conference organizers is to create new long-term collaborations between mathematicians in South-Eastern Europe. They expect that through participation women mathematicians will attract the attention of young researchers and researchers from less-favoured countries.
In this year’s edition of the forum, special guests are distinguished mathematicians Anna Maria Fino, University of Torino, Italy and Sofia Lambropoulou, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
The event is held with the support of the Scientific Program PIKOM, the Simons Foundation and the European Mathematical Society.
The official opening of the conference will take place on December 8, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. in the Meeting Hall of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics. A special guest at the event is Petar Kenderov, who will deliver a lecture on The Teacher Said: There Is No Such Problem.
Information about all speakers, as well as titles and abstracts of their reports, can be found here https://icms.bg/women-in-mathematics-in-south-eastern-europe-2022/
75th Anniversary of the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics
The Institute of Mathematics and Informatics (IMI) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences was founded on 27 October 1947 – soon after the end of the Second World War with the efforts and high professionalism of a generation of Bulgarian mathematicians, whom today we gratefully call founding fathers of Bulgarian mathematics.
During these 75 years, the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics has defended its position among the most prestigious scientific and educational institutions in Bulgaria.
The mission of IMI is:
- To develop fundamental and applied research in mathematics and informatics in line with national and European priorities and integrate IMI into the European Research Area.
- To conduct research in the fields of mathematical structures, mathematical modelling and mathematical informatics, which enrich the theoretical foundations of mathematics and informatics and lead to innovative applications in other domains of science, information and communication technologies, industry and society.
- To ensure the application of mathematics and informatics in national educational programmes and educational processes at all levels in the country.
- To promote the role of IMI as the leading scientific centre in Bulgaria in the field of mathematics and informatics.
We can proudly state that since its establishment in 1947, till today, the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics has been a leading Bulgarian centre for research and training of highly qualified personnel, carrying out a purposeful, long-term and consistent policy related to the main trends in the development of mathematics, informatics and information technologies.
In line with the public need to develop educational policies and practices in Bulgaria, an important part of IMI’s policy is participation in educational programs at all levels, which guarantees the sustainable development of the scientific potential in mathematics and informatics. The activities in this direction are diverse: training of masters and doctoral students, outstanding students (including preparation of national teams in mathematics, informatics and mathematical linguistics), retraining of teachers, preparation of students and postgraduate students for scientific work by including them in direct scientific research, implementation of programs connecting education and science (together with the Ministry of Education and Science).
IMI also works successfully to improve the relationship with the Bulgarian diaspora and to attract for cooperation with Bulgarian mathematicians working in prestigious scientific centres abroad. In this regard, we will note the already traditional holding of the Mathematics Days in Sofia International Conference, the next edition of which will be held in 2023, as well as the IMI Award for Excellence in Mathematics, which is presented to a young Bulgarian mathematician.
Happy anniversary, colleagues!
34th International Olympiad in Informatics
The 34th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI 2022) is hosted by the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from August 7th to August 15th, 2022. It is the most prestigious computer science competition for secondary school and high school students around the world.
The International Olympiad in Informatics is one of several international science Olympiads held annually around the world. Exceptional high school students from various countries compete in the prestigious algorithmic competition to sharpen their informatics skills – such as problem analysis, design of algorithms and data structures, programming, and testing.
Each participating country selects a team of up to four contestants to represent their nation. The team, accompanied by a team leader and deputy leader, will compete in a two-day competition. The competition days are 10th and 12th August. On each day contestants will be given three tasks to complete in 5 hours. Prior to the first competition day there will be a 2-hour Practice Competition, to familiarize all contestants with the grading system.
This year, the Bulgarian team concludes:
- Andon Todorov, 12th grade, Sofia High School of Mathematics,
- Atanas Dimitrov, 11th grade, Sofia High School of Mathematics,
- Deyan Hadzhi-Manich, 10th grade, High School of Mathematics „Dr. Petar Beron“, Varna,
- Martin Kopchev, 12th grade, High School of Mathematics „Acad. Ivan Gyuzelev”, Gabrovo.
Atanas and Deyan are participating in the Olympics for the first time, while for the “veterans” Andon and Martin, this is their third and fifth participation, respectively.
The head of the team is Emil Kelevedjiev, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and the deputy leader is Dobrin Bashev, a student at the Technical University in Delft, the Netherlands.
An interesting and little-known fact is that in 1989, on the initiative of Prof. Blagovest Sendov and Prof. Peter Kenderov, Bulgaria became the organizer and host of the first International Olympiad in Informatics. It took place in Pravets with only 13 countries. Today, the number of participating countries is 88. Bulgaria is one of the few countries that have participated in all editions of the Olympiad so far. Our competitors have won 27 gold, 49 silver and 39 bronze medals.
The 34th International Olympiad in Informatics logo visualizes the computational thinking and programming itself and the true essence of Indonesia. The 1 and 0 visual symbols came from the binary system invented by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the 17th century. It symbolizes the awareness of local culture. The Prambanan Temple, representing the letter “I” by its side view, is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. It was built in the year 850 AD by Rakai Pikatan from the Medang Kingdom. On the other hand, the Borobudur Temple, representing the letter “O” by its top view, is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The Borobudur Temple was built by Samaratungga from the Shailendra Dynasty between 782 and 812 AD. Both Prambanan Temple and Borobudur Temple are parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Krishna was chosen to be the Mascot of IOI’2022. Krishna represents intelligence, wisdom, strategy, and technology. It is told that he was able to see images of the future through a device called lopian, which can be interpreted as a data and information processor with a certain algorithm for a certain purpose.
The International Center for Mathematical Sciences received a three-year grant from Simons Foundation
The good news was announced personally by Prof. Yuri Tschinkel, Director of Mathematics and Physical Sciences division of Simons Foundation, during his visit to Sofia. The Foundation funded a project of the International Center for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS-Sofia) at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics for a period of three years. The funds will be used to organize international scientific forums with the participation of world-renowned and established mathematicians, to open new positions for researchers and to support scientists from Ukraine and other countries.
During his meetings with the management body of the IMI, Prof. Tschinkel expressed confidence that after the successful completion of this project, the Simons Foundation will continue the collaboration and the support of the ICMS-Sofia.
Professor Tschinkel was a special guest at the conference Second Annual Meeting of Young Bulgarian Mathematicians, which was hosted at IMI–BAS from 13 to 14 June 2022. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together young Bulgarian mathematicians working around the world and to give them the opportunity to show some of their recent research.
As announced earlier, on June 13, 2022, Prof. Tschinkel gave a lecture entitled Building Scientific Institutes, in which he shared his experience of how private capital helps fund research in various fields. The event took place at the Intercontinental Hotel Sofia.
Yuri Tschinkel is a Director of Simons Foundation, Mathematics and Physical Sciences division. The Simons Foundation is a private foundation established in 1994 by Marilyn and Jim Simons. The foundation is one of the largest charitable organizations in the USA. It makes grants in four areas: Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, autism research (Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative) and Outreach, Education and Engagement.
The Foundation seeks to create strong collaborations and foster the cross-pollination of ideas between investigators, as these interactions often lead to unexpected breakthroughs. In an effort to promote such interaction between scientists, in 2012 the foundation launched a new collaborative funding model, the Simons Collaborations, which brings funded investigators — sometimes from different disciplines — together to work on a timely and important problem.
The Simons Foundation Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) division support research in mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science by providing funding for individuals, institutions and science infrastructure.
The Simons Foundation Life Sciences division seeks to advance basic research on fundamental questions in biology, with a focus on the origins of life, microbial oceanography and microbial ecology and evolution.
The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI)’s mission is to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance.
The Simons Foundation’s Outreach, Education and Engagement programs seek to stimulate a deeper interest and understanding of science and mathematics among students, professionals and the interested public.
Second Annual Meeting of Young Bulgarian Mathematicians
The International Center for Mathematical Sciences – Sofia is organizing for a second consecutive year a meeting of young Bulgarian mathematicians from around the world.
The conference will take place at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (IMI-BAS) on June 13 – 14, 2022.
A special guest of the event is Prof. Yuri Tschinkel from Courant Institute, NYU and Simons Foundation Director, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. We envision two main outcomes of this meeting:
- Enriching the relations between young mathematicians working in Bulgaria and the Bulgarian mathematical diaspora;
- Enhancing the professional development of young Bulgarian mathematicians by presenting to them new career opportunities through national and European scientific programs.
The conclusion of the scientific part of the event on June 14 will be followed by a round table to discuss these opportunities. We are all elated by this exciting event and we are looking forward to seeing you at IMI-BAS.
Administration
IMI AWARD
IMI AWARD
Please donate
