[cmath] Fields Medal Symposium

[Andrea Yeomans]

FIELDS MEDAL SYMPOSIUM

The Fields Institute is delighted to announce the establishment of the
Fields Medal Symposium. The Symposium will take place annually in Toronto at
the Institute, celebrating the achievements of one of the recently announced
Fields Medalists. The Fields Medal Symposium will be a three-day event
featuring an address or a series of lectures for a general scientific
audience by the Medalist, as well as lectures and panel discussion by other
invited participants on themes related to the Medalist's work. The Symposium
is intended also as an inspiration to young people, and will include public
activity with the participation of high-school or undergraduate students.
The Symposium will be promoted in the Canadian and international press, and
will be broadcast live throughout the world via the Fields Institute's
interactive videoconferencing facilities.

The Fields Medal Symposium is endorsed by the International Mathematical
Union. It will be inaugurated in October 2012, on the occasion of the
twentieth anniversary of the Fields Institute. The first Medalist honoured
in this way will be Ngo Bao Chau (University of Chicago, Fields Medal 2010).
The program for the first Symposium will be organized by a Committee
consisting of Jim Arthur (University of Toronto, Chair), Bill Casselman
(University of British Columbia), Edward Frenkel (Berkeley) and Gerard
Laumon (Orsay).

The Fields Medal is the world's most prestigious prize in mathematics. It is
awarded by the International Mathematical Union every four years, to two to
four mathematicians (recently four). The Fields Medal, first awarded in
1936, and the Fields Institute are both named after John Charles Fields
(1863--1932), who was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and was a faculty member at
the University of Toronto. Fields took a strong interest in the global world
of Mathematics, and endowed the Medal in order to create an award comparable
to a Nobel Prize. (There is no Nobel Prize for Mathematics.) The awards,
however, have an interesting difference. The Nobel Prize is usually awarded
to mature scientists to crown their careers. The Fields Medal, on the other
hand, is awarded to researchers at most forty years old. It is intended not
only to crown pioneering achievements but also to encourage further
visionary work.

The Fields Medalist honoured on the occasion of the Symposium will receive
an honorarium of $25,000. The Fields Institute has been successful in
raising private sponsorship support of the Fields Medal Symposium for an
initial eight-year period. This funding will cover the honorarium, as well
as promotion of the event and the Medalist's expenses. The Institute will
provide the venue for the Symposium and cover the expenses of other invited
Symposium participants from its scientific budget. The initial eight-year
sponsorship will enable the Symposium to become established and attract
continued funding to build an endowment.

The annual Fields Medal Symposium will be one of the highest profile events
in the global mathematics community. The Fields Institute is extremely
grateful to the sponsors whose generous support has made the initiative
possible. Following are the current private sponsors of the Symposium. The
Institute is actively pursuing corporate sponsorships. The Institute
welcomes further support of the Fields Medal Symposium, at any level, as
well as any other inquiries about the program. More information about the
Fields Institute can be found at http://www.fields.utoronto.ca .

Sponsors of the Fields Medal Symposium

Silver Level $100,000--199,000
   James Stewart, Prof. Emeritus, McMaster University, text book author,
    donor of the Fields Institute Library

Bronze Level $25,000--99,000
   Edward Bierstone, Fields Institute and the University of Toronto
   George Elliott, University of Toronto and the Fields Institute
   John R. Gardner
   Philip Siller, BroadRiver Asset Management, L.P.