Organization:Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics
The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (German: Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach) is a center for mathematical research in Oberwolfach, Germany . It was founded by mathematician Wilhelm Süss in 1944.
It organizes weekly workshops on diverse topics where mathematicians and scientists from all over the world come to do collaborative research.
The Institute is a member of the Leibniz Association, funded mainly by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and by the state of Baden-Württemberg. It also receives substantial funding from the Friends of Oberwolfach foundation, from the Oberwolfach Foundation and from numerous donors.
History
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The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (MFO) was founded as the Reich Institute of Mathematics (German: Reichsinstitut für Mathematik) on 1 September 1944. It was one of several research institutes founded by the Nazis in order to further the German war effort, which at that time was clearly failing.[1] The location was selected to be remote as not to be a target for ally bombing. Originally it was housed in a building called the Lorenzenhof, a large Black Forest hunting lodge. After the war, Süss, a member of the Nazi party, was suspended for two months in 1945 as part of the county's denazification efforts, but thereafter remained head of the institute. Though the institute lost its government funding, Süss was able to keep it going with other grants, and contributed to rebuilding mathematics in Germany following the fall of the Third Reich by hosting international mathematical conferences. Some of these were organised by Reinhold Baer, a mathematician who was expelled from University of Halle in 1933 for being Jewish, but later returned to Germany in 1956 at the University of Frankfurt. The institute regained government funding in the 1950s.[1]
After Süss's death in 1958, Hellmuth Kneser was briefly director before Theodor Schneider permanently took over in the role in 1959. In that year, he and others formed the mathematical society Gesellschaft für Mathematische Forschung e. V. in order to run the MFO.[1]
1967: 10 October : Inauguration of the guest house of the MFO, a gift of the Volkswagen Foundation
1975: 13 June : Inauguration of the library and meetings building of the MFO, which replaced the old castle, also a gift of the Volkswagen Foundation
1989: 26 May : Inauguration of the extension of the guest building
1995: Establishment of the research programme "Research in Pairs"
2005: 1 January : The MFO becomes a member of the Leibniz Association
2007: Establishment of the post-doctoral programme "Oberwolfach Leibniz Fellows"
2007: 5 May : Inauguration of the library extension, a gift of the Klaus Tschira Stiftung and the Volkswagen Foundation
2005 – 2010: General restoration of the guest house and the library building
Statue
The iconic model of the Boy surface was installed in front of the Institute, as a gift from Mercedes-Benz on 28 January 1991.
The Boy Surface is named after Werner Boy who constructed the surface in his 1901 thesis, written under the direction of David Hilbert.
Directors
- 1944–1958, Wilhelm Süss
- 1958–1959, Hellmuth Kneser
- 1959–1963, Theodor Schneider
- 1963–1994, Martin Barner
- 1994–2002, Matthias Kreck
- 2002–2013, Gert-Martin Greuel [de]
- 2013–present Gerhard Huisken
Oberwolfach Prize
The Oberwolfach Prize is awarded approximately every three years for excellent achievements in changing fields of mathematics to young mathematicians not older than 35 years. It is financed by the Oberwolfach Foundation and awarded in cooperation with the institute.
- Prize winners
- 1991 Peter Kronheimer
- 1993 Jörg Brüdern [de] and Jens Franke
- 1996 Gero Friesecke [de] and Stefan Sauter [de]
- 1998 Alice Guionnet
- 2000 Luca Trevisan
- 2003 Paul Biran
- 2007 Ngô Bảo Châu
- 2010 Nicola Gigli [de] and László Székelyhidi [de]
- 2013 Hugo Duminil-Copin
- 2016 Jacob Fox
- 2019 Oscar Randal-Williams
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Jackson, Allyn (August 2000). "Oberwolfach,Yesterday and Today". Notices of the AMS 47 (7). https://www.ams.org/notices/200007/fea-oberwolfach.pdf.
External links
[ ⚑ ] 48°20′44″N 8°14′07″E / 48.34556°N 8.23528°E
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