A message from the president // Brief words from the editor-in-chief

It has been a very busy and active summer for the EMS. We first had our council in Granada and then the European Congress of Mathematics, the 9ECM, in Seville. I hope many of you were there in Seville. It was a great congress with a great many opportunities to celebrate mathematics and mathematicians and to discuss issues related to all aspects of the field across many panels. The congress was extremely well planned and on behalf of the EMS I want to thank the local organizers, in particular Juan González-Meneses and Isabel Fernández, for the enormous effort that went into making this such a successful event. If you were not in Seville, I encourage you to look at the list of events and recorded talks available online, a testimony to our thriving field.⁠¹⁠https://www.ecm2024sevilla.com

One of the more enjoyable moments I’ve had as the president of the EMS was the opportunity to present the prizes at the European Congress. I want again to congratulate all this year’s prizewinners:

The ten EMS prizes went to Maria Colombo, Cristiana De Filippis, Jessica Fintzen, Nina Holden, Tom Hutchcroft, Jacek Jendrej, Adam Kanigowski, Frederick Manners, Richard Montgomery, and Danylo Radchenko.

The Felix Klein Prize went to Fabien Casenave. The Otto Neugebauer Prize went to Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze. The new Paul Lévy Prize in Probability Theory went to Jeremy Quastel and the new EMS/ECMI Lanczos Prize for mathematical software went to MUMPS (MUltifrontal Massively Parallel sparse direct Solver): Patrick Amestoy, Jean-Yves L’Excellent, and Theo Mary.⁠²⁠You can find all the details and the citations here: https://euromathsoc.org/news/fourteen-prizes-awarded-to-european-mathematicians-at-the-9th-ecm-121.

The council in Granada, which took place before the congress, was a fruitful opportunity for the Executive Committee of the EMS to discuss with its delegates and get productive feedback on the work of the EMS. There were several interesting discussions, and the Executive Committee has many issues to think about after the Council. The Council elected three new members to the Executive Committee, and I want to welcome Maria Ángeles García-Ferrero (who is also a representative of EMYA, the EMS Young Academy), Adam Skalski, and Alain Valette as new members of the EC. I am greatly looking forward to working with them. They will be replacing Beatrice Pelloni, Frédéric Hélein, and Luis Narváez Macarro at the end of the year. Frédéric and Luis have decided to retire from the EC after their first term. Beatrice will have served her two terms and is currently serving as vice president as well. As Beatrice, Frédéric, and Luis are still on the EC until the end of the year, so it is too early for us to say goodbye. The council elected the current EC member Victoria Gould to replace Beatrice as vice president from 2025. Vicky has been a very engaged member of the EC and a unanimous EC nominated her for the vice presidency. I am happy that the council took this decision, and I am confident that Vicky will be an excellent vice president and will be devoting a lot of energy to the EMS, as she has already done. I am very happy that the council also reelected Barbara Kaltenbacher and Susanna Terracini to their second term on the EC.

I mentioned in my last message that in our efforts to make EMS a more professional organization we have decided to hire a community engagement manager who will be responsible for all the communication channels of the EMS and for our grant application procedures. It is my great pleasure to welcome Enrico Schlitzer as the new Community Engagement Manager. Enrico has a PhD in mathematics from SISSA in Trieste and a master’s degree in science communication. Moreover, Enrico already has a lot of experience with science communication. His position is part-time, and he will be working 75% for the EMS and 25% for the EMS Press. Enrico started his position just before the summer, and he is already implementing many new ideas. You may have already met Enrico during the 9ECM; if not I am sure you will all be hearing a lot from him in the future.

Let me finally congratulate Donatella Donatelli with this being her first issue of the EMS Magazine as our new editor-in-chief.

I unfortunately have to end this message on a sad note. The former president of the EMS Rolf Jeltsch passed away on June 28, 2024. Rolf was the president of the EMS from 1999 to 2002. Rolf was a visionary president and did a lot for the EMS. In particular, he was instrumental in establishing the publishing efforts of the EMS, which eventually led to the creation of our successful EMS Press. You can read more about Rolf Jeltsch in the obituary by Volker Mehrmann in this issue of the Magazine.

Thanks so much to all of you who participated in the Council or the 9ECM, and in general to everyone for your involvement in the EMS. With all good wishes for a new academic year,

Jan Philip Solovej

President of the EMS

Dear readers of the European Mathematical Society Magazine,

It is my honour, a challenge and a great responsibility to accept the invitation of the Executive Committee of the EMS and of its president, Jan Philip Solovej, to become from 1 July 2024 onwards the editor-in-chief of the EMS Magazine.

The previous editor-in-chief, Fernando Pestana da Costa, under whose guidance I had the privilege of working as an editor for the book review section for the past three and a half years, has done a really superb job in managing and promoting the EMS Magazine and enhancing its relevance for the European mathematics community. I am grateful for his patience and the instructive and attentive way he guided me through the steps of the production process in this handover and for his wise suggestions on how to run the journal.

The EMS Magazine is in a very good shape and attracts the attention of readers within as well outside Europe. I shall do my best to keep its high standards and reputation. The EMS Magazine has an editorial board of very motivated and active people, and with the aid of the EMS Press staff I am optimistic that we can keep bringing to your attention insightful perspectives on research, news and other items of interest in mathematics in progressively better ways.

At the end of this editorial I want to quote David Hilbert (1862–1943): “Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country.” My purpose is to ensure that the EMS Magazine will continue to be this one country for the cultural world.

Therefore, I conclude this editorial with the final words of the editorial by Valentin Zagrebnov in Issue 101, when he became editor-in-chief, and repeated also in Issue 117 in the editorial by Fernando Pestana da Costa, when he became editor-in-chief “We hope that all readers will feel free to contact the editorial board whenever they have ideas for future articles, comments, criticisms or suggestions.”

Donatella Donatelli

Editor-in-chief

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   https://www.ecm2024sevilla.com

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   You can find all the details and the citations here: https://euromathsoc.org/news/fourteen-prizes-awarded-to-european-mathematicians-at-the-9th-ecm-121.