Speech by Jacob Palis
President of IMU
（国际数学联盟主席）
Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentleman:
I am greatly honored and pleased to welcome you all to ICM 2002, the 24th International Congress of Mathematicians.
亲爱的同事们，女士们，先生们：
我非常荣幸也很高兴地欢迎各位参加2002年国际数学家大会，第二十四届国际数学家大会。
This is in many ways a very special Congress. Indeed, it is the first in the new Millennium and, therefore, we are bringing the dreams of Cantor and Felix Klein, dreamed in the late 1900s, into the 21st Century. They realized, then, that mathematics was becoming too large and diversified a subject and that was almost impossible for one person to embrace, like probably was the case of Monge, Laplace, Lagrange and Gauss, among others, at the turn of the 19th Century. Thus, interaction among mathematicians both at a national and international level was the clear road for its development. Their dream was not only robust in time, but has grown in dimension; mathematics has become more and more international, and solidarity across countries has been increasing at a fast pace. This is occurring not only at a world basis, particularly through the activities of IMU, among which the ICM is a major event, but also in regional scenarios, as indicated by the rather recent creations of the European Mathematical Society and the Latin American and Caribbean Mathematical Union, following that of the African Mathematical Union and of the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The first two organizations are affiliated to IMU, and we have solid relations with the last ones.
从很多方面来讲，这是一个非常特殊的大会。这是新千年里数学科学界的第一次盛会，我们也因此将20世纪初康托和费利克斯·克莱因的梦想带入了21世纪。他们在当时已意识到数学已经成为一个如此宽广和多样的主题，因此再不可能象以往蒙日，拉普拉斯，拉格朗日和高斯等前辈那样由一个人的工作来涵盖。因此，国内和国际层面的数学家的交流与合作将是数学发展的清晰途路。他们的梦想不仅及时地成为鲜活的事实，而且在空间上得到了扩展：数学正越来越实现国际化，同时各国间的团结协作也正迅速地繁荣起来。这一切不仅仅是通过国际数学联盟的活动发生在世界的背景之下，其中国际数学家大会是联盟活动中重要的一项，同时这一趋势在地区也十分显著，例如新近创立的欧洲数学会及拉丁美洲和加勒比海数学联盟，此后还有非洲数学联盟和国际工业与应用数学理事会。前两个组织是附属于国际数学联盟的，后面的几个组织也与我们保持着稳固的关系。
The 24th ICM is also unique because for the first time it is taking place in a developing country, and in fact in the fastest growing country in the world at present, with a population which is about a fourth of humanity. Per se this makes the ICM more inclusive and being inclusive is a basic principle of our Union, as also shown by our joint efforts with the Local Organizing Committee in providing the opportunity to more than 400 colleagues, young and senior, from less affluent parts of the world, to participate in the Congress. By having the Congress here, we are giving our trust to China for its commitment to mathematics and in particular to its young talents. But China is also paying a precious tribute to the Union, by the presence among us, for the first time in our history, of the highest authority of the host country, President Jiang Ze-min. About a year and a half ago, he accepted our invitation to be in this Opening Ceremony and jointly with us award the Fields Medals. In doing so, the President is showing his appreciation for our science and its importance to the world of today. We are very confident that the Congress here in China will mark a formidable change in the level and scope of activities of mathematics in this country: a tree that was planted by S.S. Chern, L. K. Hua and K. Feng, as well as by C.H. Gu, W. T. Wu and S. Liao, and more recently S. T. Yau and G. Tian, among others.
第二十四届国际数学家大会也是一次非同寻常的大会，因为这是第一次在一个发展中国家举办大会，而这个国家又是目前世界发展速度最快的国家，她的人口占人类的四分之一。这一切从本质上使得国际数学家大会更具包纳性，而包纳性又是我们的联盟的基本原则。为更好地体现这一原则，当地组织委员会为400多位来自相对贫困地区的年轻及年长的同行提供了参与大会的机会。令大会在中国举办是出于我们对中国的承诺的依赖，特别是对中国杰出的年轻一代的依赖。此外，中国也对联盟作出了宝贵的贡献，在大会的历史上首次有主办国的最高领导人出席会议：我们荣幸地邀请到江泽民主席出席大会开幕式。大概在一年半以前他就接受了我们的邀请出席今天的开幕式并为大会颁菲尔兹奖。显示了他对我们的数学科学的高度评价及数学对今日这世界的重要性的肯定。我们有信心使这次大会有力地推动中国数学活动的水平和范围：这是一棵由非凡的中国数学家们精心种下的树，象华罗庚、陈省身、冯康、吴文俊、谷超豪、廖山涛，以及年轻一代的丘成桐和田刚等等。
This Congress is also a culmination of an intense period of activities in mathematics throughout the world, as well as for achieving a certain maturity concerning the perspective for its future development. In this respect, besides fundamental research, the importance of the interaction of mathematics with other areas of science, beyond the classical case of physics, is now largely accepted. Also, more emphasis in applications is to be given. Moreover, there should be no division between pure and applied mathematics in accordance with Pasteur's beautiful sentence that there is no applied science, but applications of science. In terms of activities, we had an intense celebration of the Year 2000 as the World Mathematical Year: IMU published a book "Mathematics: Frontiers and Perspectives"; co-sponsored major conferences in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, one of them through its Commission on Mathematical Instruction, and promoted many mathematical exhibitions and events directed to the general public. Such a celebration was part of a Declaration made by Jacques-Louis Lions, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992.
这次大会也是全世界一系列数学学术活动的高潮，又是未来数学科学发展趋于成熟的标志。在这一方面，除了基础研究，人们现在普遍认识到数学同其他学科互动的重要性，应该予以更多的重视。根据巴斯德的名言，世界上没有应用科学，只有科学的应用，因此，纯粹数学和应用数学不应分家。在学术活动方面，我们在2000年隆重庆祝了世界数学年：国际数学联盟出版了《数学：前沿和展望》一书，在欧洲、拉丁美洲、非洲和亚洲联合发起了一系列重要会议，还有许多面向公众的数学展览等活动。这些庆祝活动是雅克-路易·利翁斯起草的1992年里约热内卢宣言的一部分。
Unfortunately, I have to register that he, Jurgen Moser and Lion's former adviser, the Fields Medallist Laurent Schwartz passed away in the last years. Of prime importance in this period, has been the activity of the Union's Committee on Electronic Information and Communication and the work of the IMU Commissions on Development and Exchanges (CDE), Instruction (ICMI) and History (ICHM).
很可惜，摩塞尔和利翁斯的顾问、菲尔兹奖得主施瓦茨在过去两年中相继去世。这一时期最重要的事件是联盟电子信息和通讯委员会的活动及其下设的发展与交流委员会(CDE)，国际数学教育委员会(ICMI)和国际数学史委员会(ICHM)的持续工作。
The present Congress is also special in other ways. For the first time, the IMU General Assembly has elected a woman to its Executive Committee and also a Chinese. Furthermore, at this occasion, the mathematical community can commemorate the creation of two new prizes. The first, called the Gauss Prize for Applications of Mathematics is to be jointly awarded once every four years by IMU and the German Mathematical Society. The second, in honor of Abel, shall be awarded every year by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences: similar to the Nobel Prize, it has the potential to change, in years to come, the landscape of mathematics in the world scenario of sciences.
这次大会在其他方面也非常特殊：国际数学联盟首次选举一位女性和一名中国人进入执委会。在这次会议上，数学界将纪念两个新的奖项的创建。第一个新奖项叫作高斯数学应用奖，每四年由国际数学联盟和德国数学会联合授予一次。第二个奖项是为了纪念伟大的数学家阿贝尔，奖项每年一次由挪威科学院授予：与诺贝尔奖相似，该奖项有可能改变数学科学在世界各学科当中的地位和前景。
Finally, on behalf of all of us, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to the Chinese Institutions that made the Congress possible and most especially to our colleagues Zhi-ming Ma, K.C. Chang, Daqian Li, Weiyue Ding and Ya-xiang Yuan for their warm reception and excellent organization.
Thank you very much.
最后，请允许我代表大家，感谢主办大会的中国有关单位以及马志明、张恭庆、李大潜、丁伟岳、袁亚湘所作出的卓越的组织工作。
谢谢！