5th Winter Workshop on History of Mathematics

Mathematics, mathematicians and war:
How does war affect mathematical work and vice versa?

This year’s workshop is held between the occasions of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the WWI and the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII. We would like to discuss crucial impact that all 20th century global conflicts – WWI, WWII and Cold War– have had on the development of science in general and of mathematics in particular. We will ask in what ways and why the impact on these conflicts on the development of research on mathematics differ from each other and also from previous war conflicts.
Key phenomena to be described are those of continuity and discontinuity. Wars inevitably bring about many personal tragedies and that is why discontinuity forms sadly inseparable part of many personally focused research topics.
We would like to focus on the following features: How did the wars change the research practices in mathematics and if and how was it possible to keep the research going during wartime? How does war stimulate research? It was during and after WWII that war-related research in mathematics became very prominent and also brought ethical issues.

The meeting traditionally strives to support interdisciplinary debate and explore various approaches to history of mathematics. We would like to offer a view of mathematics as an indispensable part of our culture.

Invited speakers:
Tinne Hoff Kjeldsen, Roskilde University
Henrik Kragh Sorensen, Aarhus University