A graduate student’s view of the international congress of mathematicians

Abstract

Alas, the hordes of frustrated mathematics s tudents failed to material ize (I suppose Berkeley is not the place it once was), and we had to be content with the scheduled events at the opening ceremonies. The Berkeley Congress was not only my first ICM, but my first professional meet ing as well. Hence, I was natural ly excited and curious about it. That it was held in Berkeley was an additional bonus, for it provided me with an oppor tun i ty to visit friends in the Bay Area and to spend time in my favourite city. The prospect of hav ing my first con fe rence be the quadr i enn ia l gather ing of the world 's mathematicians was somewhat daunt ing, especially as I did not expect to know or meet anyone . These fears were abandoned dur ing the first morn ing w h e n I saw people I knew and met several graduate and undergradua te s tudents . A sizable cont ingent of s tudents seemed to be at the Congress. In addi t ion to myself and other opportunistic graduate s tudents , there were many undergrad-