Proceedings of the Workshop held at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Niš, Niš, 21 of October 2020
Authors: Mahouton Norbert Hounkonnou, Melanija Mitrović
Publisher: DE GRUYTER
Language: English
eBook ISBN: 9783110734119
Hardcover ISBN: 9783110738629
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110734119
Published: 2023
Number of Pages: XVI, 201
Description
The International Chair in Mathematical Physics and Applications (ICMPA - UNESCO chair), University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, and the Center for Applied Mathematics of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Niš, CAM-FMEN, organized a webinar on Mathematics for human flourishing in the time of COVID-19 and post COVID-19, 21 October 2020, supported by the City of Niš. The objectives of the webinar were to give precise information about the work that scientists do to cure the disease, to push forward technology, to understand our society and create new expressions of humanity, and to question the role of mathematics in the responses to this pandemic.
From the Preface
The goals of the webinar were clearly defined. COVID-19 has fundamentally affected our lives. We faced this unprecedented challenge. Overcoming COVID-19 and its consequences is impossible without science and scientific work. The scientific response to COVID-19 should be multi-disciplinary, involving health sciences, engineering, social sciences, and basic sciences such as mathematics. The objectives of the webinar were: to give precise information about the work that scientists do to cure the disease, to push forward technology, to understand our society and create new expressions of humanity, and to question the role of mathematics in the responses to this pandemic. Explaining the latter, we paraphrase the words of Mark Turner (The Origin of Ideas: Blending, Creativity, and the Human Spark, Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press, 2014): we, mathematicians, we did not make galaxies, we did not make viruses, the sun, the DNA, or the chemical bond. But we do make new ideas—lots of them. Our ideas stem from our scientific ability to combine existing knowledge coming from different scientific fields in order to make new ones.
About the editors
Mahouton Norbert Hounkonnou is a Full Professor at the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. His works deal with noncommutative and nonlinear mathematics, mathematical physics and complexity. He was a member of UNESCO Scientific Council for International Basic Sciences Programme and member of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) working group on Harnessing Science, Engineering and Medicine to Address Africa’s Challenges. He is also a member of several academies, including the Academy of Science of South Africa, Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Morocco, African Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences. He is the co- chair of the Network of African, European and Mediterranean Academies for Science Education, President of the Network of African Science Academies and former President of Benin National Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. He is member of the IAP Science Education Global Council, and representative for Africa of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) Commission for Developing Countries (CDC). He was awarded several international prestigious Prizes, the last being the American Institute of Physics 2023 Tate Medal for his efforts to build and maintain an enduring transnational African mathematical physics research and education community.
Melanija Mitrović is a Full Professor at the University of Niš, Serbia, having received her PhD degree at the same university. She works in the field of classical and constructive algebra. Her innovating work within the theory of constructive binary structures with apartness positions her among the pioneers of constructive mathematics in Serbia. She develops interdisciplinary research investigating applications of algebraic structures to problems in engineering space, social sciences and humanities. She is, also, the Head of the Center of Applied Mathematics of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Niš, CAM- FMEN (since 2019), a member of the Editorial Board of Mathematics in Mind, Springer; a member of the Fields Cognitive Science Network. She holds the status of Permanent Full Professor at the International Chair in Mathematical Physics and Applications (ICMPA-UNESCO Chair), University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin Republic. She has held visiting professor positions at Linköping University and Malardaren University, Sweden; Bar-Ilan University, Israel; TU Wien, Austria; UTAD and University of Minho, Portugal; and Politecnico di Milano, Italy. She is member of the Grant Selection Committee (GSC) of the International Mathematical Union (IMU) Commission for Developing Countries (CDC).
