BC History
Foundation of the Banach Center and its 50-years' history
On January 13, 1972, an agreement was signed in Warsaw by the Academies of Sciences of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and USSR, establishing the Banach Center. Later on, the Academies of Sciences of Vietnam (1979), Cuba (1984) and North Korea (1986) joined the agreement.
From the very beginning, Banach Center was part of the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, headed by the Director of the Institute together with the International Scientific Council of the Banach Center. The aim of the Center has always been promotion and stimulation of international co-operation in mathematics, especially between the East and West.
In the '70s and '80s, the contacts between the East and West constantly gained in importance, and Poland, with its geographic location, cultural and mathematical traditions, served as a natural meeting place.
During the first 20 years of its existence (1972-1992), under the leadership of Professor Czeslaw Olech, Banach Center gained world-wide recognition as a center of collaboration of mathematicians from all over the world.
For the next 10 years (1993-2002) Professor Bogdan Bojarski had been the Director of the Banach Center. In this period the agreement of the Academies was terminated (1993), but new perspectives to the activities of the Center opened, based on the cooperation with the European Mathematical Society. New forms of activity have been continually added, including condensed workshops and symposia, conferences, and research groups in addition to the existing form of semesters. Special emphasis is put on the interaction of different fields of mathematics and interdisciplinary meetings.
Professor Stanisław Janeczko, former Director of the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, has been the Director of the Banach Center for the period of 2002-2010. In 2006 he nominated Professor Janusz Grabowski to act as Scientific Secretary of the Banach Center, who was to hold this position till the end of Prof. Janeczko term of office.
Once Professor Feliks Przytycki became a Director of IMPAS in 2010 (and the Director of the Banach Center at the same time), Professor Janeczko was nominated to serve as Chairman of the Banach Center.
During 1972-1993, the Scientific Council of the Banach Center consisted of two representatives of each signatory Academy of Sciences plus the Director of the Center. The Council determines the scientific program of the Center. Since 1993, the Council has had representatives from the EMS, representatives from the founding countries and four representatives from Poland.
Since Autumn 2015, the Center is formally supervised by Adam Skalski, the Deputy Director of the Institute for scientific matters, who in 2021 became the Chairman of ERCOM.
In 2022 the Banach Center will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Information on Scientific Council for the 2022-2025 term is available here
Former Chairmen of the Scientific Council (1972-2005)
- Lubomir Iliev (Bulgaria) 1972-1976
- Ákos Császár (Hungary) 1977-1980
- Klaus Matthes (East Germany) 1981-1982
- Kazimierz Urbanik (Poland) 1983-1986
- Romulus Cristescu (Romania) 1987-1989
- Sergeĭ M. Nikol'skiĭ (USRR) 1990-1992
- Friedrich Hirzebruch (Germany) 1993-2001
- Rolf Jeltsch (Switzerland) - 2002-2005
- Ari Laptev (Sweden) - 2006-2013
- Pavel Exner (Czech Republic) - 2014-2021
Scientific Council for the 2018-2021 term
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Scientific Director of the Institute responsible for the Banach Center - Prof. Adam Skalski
Prof. Alexey Davydov (National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”, Russia)
Prof. Pavel Exner (Doppler Institute for Mathematical Physics and Applied Mathematics, Czech Republic) - chairman of the BC Scientific Council
Prof. Alice Fialowski (Eötvös Loránd University, University of Pécs, Hungary)
Prof. Gert-Martin Greuel (University of Kaiserslautern, Germany)
Prof. Grzegorz Karch (University of Wroclaw, Poland)
Prof. Sławomir Kołodziej (Jagiellonian University, Poland)
Prof. Sjoerd Verduyn Lunel (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Prof. Domokos Szász (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary)
Prof. Henryk Woźniakowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Scientific Council for the 2014–2017 term
- Chairman of the Stefan Banach International Mathematical Center - Prof. Stanisław Janeczko
Scientific Director of the Institute responsible for the Banach Center - Prof. Adam Skalski
Prof. Zbigniew Błocki (Jagiellonian University, Poland)
Prof. Pavel Exner (Doppler Institute for Mathematical Physics and Applied Mathematics, Czech Republic) - chair of the BC Scientific Council
Prof. Alice Fialowski (Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary)
Prof. Grzegorz Karch (University of Wroclaw, Poland)
prof. Sjoerd Verduyn Lunel (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Prof. Olga Rossi (University of Ostrava, Czech Republic)
Prof. Domokos Szász (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary)
Prof. Dmitry Treschev (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
Prof. Jouko Väänänen (University of Helsinki, Finland)
Prof. Henryk Woźniakowski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Scientific Council for the 2010–2013 term
- Scientific Director of the Institute of Mathematics - Prof. Stanisław Janeczko
- Prof. Grzegorz Banaszak (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland)
- Prof. Zbigniew Błocki (Jagiellonian University, Poland)
- Prof. Ari Laptev (President of the European Mathematical Society, Sweden) - chairman
- Prof. Péter Pál Pálfy (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary)
- Prof. Olga Rossi (University of Ostrava, Czech Republic)
- Prof. Marta Sanz Solé (University of Barcelona, Spain)
- Prof. Dmitry Treschev (Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia)
- Prof. Jouko Väänänen (University of Helsinki, Finland)
- Prof. Przemysław Wojtaszczyk (Warsaw University, Poland)
Scientific Council for the 2006–2009 term
- Piotr Biler (Wrocław)
- Olga Gil-Medrano (President of the Royal Mathematical Society, Spain)
- Janusz Grabowski - Scientific Secretary of the Banach Center (Warsaw)
- Sabir Gusein-Zade (Moscow)
- Jerzy Kaczorowski (Poznań)
- Ari Laptev (Sweden) - chairman
- Péter Pál Pálfy (Budapest)
- Carlo Sbordone (Napoli, 2005–2008)
- Vladimir Souček (Praha)
- Przemysław Wojtaszczyk (Warsaw)
Scientific Council for the 2002–2005 term
- Piotr Biler (Wrocław)
- Andreĭ Bolibrukh (Moscow) - died in 2004
- Sabir Gusein-Zade (Moscow) - since 2004
- Stefan Jackowski (Warszawa)
- Rolf Jeltsch (Zürich) - chairman
- Jerzy Kaczorowski (Poznań)
- Olli Martio (Helsinki), 2001 - 2004
- Marta Sanz Solé (Barcelona)
- Carlo Sbordone (Napoli) - since 2005
- Jan Slovák (Brno)
- Verá T. Sós (Budapest)
- Łukasz Stettner (Warszawa) - Scientific Director of the Institute
Scientific Council for the 1998–2001 term
- Friedrich Hirzebruch (Bonn) - Chairman
- Andreĭ Bolibrukh (Moscow)
- Pavol Brunovský (Bratislava)
- Roman Dwilewicz (Warszawa) - Scientific Director of the Institute (to March 2000)
- Bronisław Jakubczyk (Warszawa)
- Tadeusz Januszkiewicz (Wrocław)
- Gyula O. H. Katona (Budapest)
- Stanisław Kwapień (Warszawa)
- Marta Sanz Solé (Barcelona)
- Łukasz Stettner (Warszawa) - Scientific Director of the Institute (from March 2000)
- David A. R. Wallace (Glasgow) - resigned in 2001
- Olli Martio (Helsinki) - from April 2001
Scientific Council for the 1993-1997 term
- Friedrich Hirzebruch (Bonn) — Chairman
- Eva Bayer-Fluckiger (Besançon)
- Pavol Brunovský (Bratislava)
- Ludvig D. Faddeev (St. Petersburg)
- Andrzej Hulanicki (Wrocław)
- Bronisław Jakubczyk (Warszawa) — Scientific Director of the Institute
- Stanisław Janeczko (Warszawa)
- Gyula O. H. Katona (Budapest)
- Aatos Lahtinen (Helsinki)
- Bogdan Ziemian (Warszawa) — Secretary
Members of the Scientific Council (1972-1992)
- Bulgaria: R. Denchev, B. Dymitrov, M. Gavrilov, L. G. Iliev, P. Kenderov, A. N. Mateev, G. Skordev
- Cuba: L. Alvarez, G. Lopez, I. R. Shulcloper
- Czechoslovakia: A. Kufner, L. Mišik, J. Novák, A. Pázman, S. Schwabik
- East Germany: F. Kuhnert, K. Matthes
- Hungary: M. Arató, Á. Császár, E. T. Szmidt
- North Korea: Ho Gon
- Poland: Z. Ciesielski, C. Olech, W. Orlicz, K. Urbanik
- Romania: D. Burghelea, R. Cristescu, G. C. Moisil, T. Postelnicu, E. Radu
- USSR: S. M. Nikol'skiĭ, S. V. Yablonskiĭ
- Vietnam: Phan Dinh Dieu, Hoang Tuy, Pham Huu Sach
