The ''World Directory of Mathematicians'' (WDM) was a directory book listing contact information of active mathematicians around the world. It was published by the

International Mathematical Union The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports the International ...

every four years between 1958 and 2002, with the exception of the second edition published in 1961 and the sixth in 1979.

History

The idea of publishing an international directory of mathematicians was suggested by Ferdinand Rudio, one of the organizers of the first

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

held in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

in 1897. The first edition of the ''World Directory of Mathematicians'' was published in 1958. The work was carried out by the

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) is a leading research Institute under the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is a public deemed university located at Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai. It also has a centres in ...

led by Komaravolu Chandrasekharan. He continued to serve as the editor for the second and third editions of the ''Directory''. The first edition of the ''Directory'' listed about 3500 active mathematicians. The total number grew to over 10 000 in the third edition, which contained for the first time a list of mathematicians of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, on which there were well over 2000 names.

Otto Frostman Otto Albin Frostman (3 January 1907 – 29 December 1977) was a Swedish mathematician, known for his work in potential theory and complex analysis. Frostman earned his Ph.D. in 1935 at Lund University under the Hungarian-born mathematician M ...

, the Secretary of the IMU, was the editor for the fourth and fifth editions. Unfortunately, he died in 1977 while working on the sixth edition.

Masayoshi Nagata Masayoshi Nagata ( Japanese: 永田雅宜 ''Nagata Masayoshi''; February 9, 1927 – August 27, 2008) was a Japanese mathematician, known for his work in the field of commutative algebra. Work Nagata's compactification theorem shows that al ...

took up the task and the sixth edition was published after a delay of one year. Nagata also supervised the seventh edition. Starting from the eighth edition in 1986, the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

became the co-editor with the IMU, and the U.S. member of the IMU Executive Committee would be its responsible editor. The publication was stopped after the twelfth edition due to the lack of sales, the high production cost and the rise of the internet. The last edition in 2002 listed over 57 000 mathematicians from 71 countries. Two online directories were provided on the IMU website afterwards as a replacement of the paper version, but they were felt to be irrelevant and were retired in 2011.

References

{{reflist International Mathematical Union Directories Mathematical databases