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Europe has a long tradition in Mathematics. The development of
Mathematics in Europe was almost always on a national, or even
regional, basis. One should therefore speak of "traditions"
rather than a single "tradition" in Mathematics in
Europe. This was of course a reflection of the political
disputes and cultural differences among the many european
nationalities.
However, the last 2 decades have witnessed major changes in these
state of affairs: many of the political conflicts have
disapeared and the information revolution has broken national
barriers. Meanwhile, a European sense of identity is slowly
growing. The European Mathematical Society (EMS) has helped
bringing these changes to the European mathematical
community through its various activities, including the
organization of meetings and workshops, such as the European
Congress of Mathematics and the EMS Summer Schools.
The Portuguese Mathematical Society has suggested to the EMS starting
a series of smaller, more frequent,
meetings in specific areas of mathematics: the EMS Mathematical
Weekends. They offer a chance for European and other
mathematicians working in related areas to get together and
interact on a more permanent basis. Each meeting can run for up
to 3 days, and consists of Invited Addresses and Special
Sessions. Each Special Session is devoted to a single topic or
area of mathematics, and the topics of the Special Sessions are
unrelated. The Invited Addresses are given by outstanding
mathematicians, who are leaders in their fields of research. The
Lisbon Meetting will be the first meeting in this series.
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