International Grassmann Conference

Commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great scholar, whose achievements go way beyond mathematics and comparative philology, scientists from all over the world gathered for a conference in Potsdam and Szczecin, Grassmann's place of birth and residence. For four days more than seventy-five scientists from four continents - mathematicians, logicians, soft- and hardware specialists, physicists, engineers, historians, philosophers, scholars of religious studies, pedagogues, Indologists, musicologists, and many more - participated in an interdisciplinary dialogue. The participants of the conference did not only discuss the influential reception of Grassmann's work which took place at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century. The discussions at the conference also brought to the fore Grassmann's startling modernity and the efforts to further develop his thinking in the 21st century. The recorded excerpts of the conference presented here comprise the welcoming words of the patron of the conference, Dr. Manfred Stolpe, and of the representatives of the towns and universities involved. They also include 32 scientific talks, the corresponding discussions and an impression of the organ concert performed by Jan Kepinski in the Cathedral Basilica of St. James the Apostle in Szczecin, which featured music by Carl Loewe. Our recording shows how lively and rich the discussions at this unusual conference turned out to be. This set of DVDs complements the conference proceedings published by Birkhäuser.