The Intersection of History and Mathematics

The Twenty-First International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) was held in Kyoto, Japan, from August 21 through 29, 1990, the first congress that has taken place in the Eastern hemisphere. On this occasion, Japanese historians of mathe- matics organized the History of Mathematics Symposium which was held at the Sanjo Conference Hall of the University of Tokyo on August 31 and September 1, as one of the related conferences of the Congress. The symposium was officially sponsored by the Executive Committee of the ICM 90, the History of Science So- ciety of Japan, and the International Commission on the History of Mathematics. The Executive Committee consisted of Murata Tamotsu (Chairperson, Momoyama Gakuin University), Sugiura Mitsuo (Vice-Chairperson, Tsuda College), Sasaki Chikara (Secretary, The University of Tokyo), Adachi Norio (Waseda University), Nagaoka Ryosuke (Tsuda College until 1990, now Daito Bunka University), and Hirano Yoichi (Treasurer, Tokai University).
The symposium emphasized the following three fields of study: (1) mathe- matical traditions in the East, (2) the history of modern European mathematics, and (3) interaction between mathematical research and the history of mathemat- ics. These fields were chosen mainly because, first, the symposium was related to the ICM, the most important congress of working mathematicians, and, second, the Kyoto ICM was held in a non-Western country for the first time. The sym- posium consisted of the two Sessions: Session A for invited speakers and Session B for short communications.