Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics

Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics
The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics is a center for mathematical research in Oberwolfach, Germany. It was founded by mathematician Wilhelm Süss in 1944.
It organizes weekly workshops on diverse topics where mathematicians and scientists from all over the world come to do collaborative research.
The Institute is a member of the Leibniz Association, funded mainly by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and by the state of Baden-Württemberg. It also receives substantial funding from the Friends of Oberwolfach foundation, from the Oberwolfach Foundation and from numerous donors.
History
The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics (MFO) was founded as the Reich Institute of Mathematics (German: Reichsinstitut für Mathematik) on 1 September 1944. It was one of several research institutes founded by the Nazis in order to further the German war effort, which at that time was clearly failing. The location was selected to be remote as not to be a target for ally bombing. Originally it was housed in a building called the Lorenzenhof, a large Black Forest hunting lodge. After the war, Süss, a member of the Nazi party, was suspended for two months in 1945 as part of the county's denazification efforts, but thereafter remained head of the institute. Though the institute lost its government funding, Süss was able to keep it going with other grants, and contributed to rebuilding mathematics in Germany following the fall of the Third Reich by hosting international mathematical conferences. Some of these were organised by Reinhold Baer, a mathematician who was expelled from University of Halle in 1933 for being Jewish, but later returned to Germany in 1956 at the University of Frankfurt. The institute regained government funding in the 1950s.
After Süss's death in 1958, Hellmuth Kneser was briefly director before Theodor Schneider permanently took over in the role in 1959. In that year, he and others formed the mathematical society Gesellschaft für Mathematische Forschung e. V. in order to run the MFO.
In 1967, on the 10 October, the guest house of the Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics was inaugurated, which was a gift from the Volkswagen Foundation. On June 13, 1975, the library and meetings building of the MFO were inaugurated, replacing the old castle. This new building was also a gift from the Volkswagen Foundation.
On the 26th of May in 1989, an extension to the guest building at the MFO was inaugurated.
In 1995, the MFO established the research program "Research in Pairs".
On January 1, 2005, Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics became a member of the Leibniz Association. From 2005 to 2010, there was a general restoration of the guest house and the library building at the MFO.
Post-doctoral program "Oberwolfach Leibniz Fellows" was established in 2007. On May 5, of the same year, an extension to the library was inaugurated, the extension was a gift from the Klaus Tschira Stiftung and the Volkswagen Foundation.
Statue
The iconic model of the Boy surface was installed in front of the Institute, as a gift from Mercedes-Benz on 28 January 1991.
The Boy Surface is named after Werner Boy who constructed the surface in his 1901 thesis, written under the direction of David Hilbert.
Directors
1944–1958, Wilhelm Süss
1958–1959, Hellmuth Kneser
1959–1963, Theodor Schneider
1963–1994, Martin Barner
1994–2002, Matthias Kreck
2002–2013,
2013–present Gerhard Huisken
Oberwolfach Prize
The Oberwolfach Prize is awarded approximately every three years for excellent achievements in changing fields of mathematics to young mathematicians not older than 35 years. It is financed by the Oberwolfach Foundation and awarded in cooperation with the institute.
Prize winners
1991 Peter Kronheimer
1993 and Jens Franke
1996 and
1998 Alice Guionnet
2000 Luca Trevisan
2003 Paul Biran
2007 Ngô Bảo Châu
2010 and
2013 Hugo Duminil-Copin
2016 Jacob Fox
2019 Oscar Randal-Williams
2022 Vesselin Dimitrov
References
External links
Home page of the institute
Web page about the Oberwolfach Prize
Leibniz Association
Research institutes in Germany
International research institutes for mathematics
Organisations based in Baden-Württemberg
Research institutes established in 1944
Mathematics in Germany