The Japanese Association of Mathematical Sciences

Founded in 1948


The Japanese Association of Mathematical Sciences was founded by Professor Tatsujiro Shimizu in 1948. Let us give a few details about Tatsujiro Shimizu (1897-1992) modifying material taken from [2]:-
In 1924, Tatsujiro Shimizu graduated from the Department of Mathematics, School of Science, Tokyo Imperial University and continued his work at the same department as a member of staff. He established a new way to generalise Nevanlinna's theory of meromorphic functions and established the famous theorem in the theory of meromorphic functions, later called the Shimizu-Ahlfors theorem. In addition, with the idea of function group, he attained a profound result on the construction of the Riemann surface of meromorphic functions. In 1932, he became professor of Osaka Imperial University and contributed to the establishment of the Department of Mathematics in the School of Science. At this stage, he became interested in the field of applied mathematics, especially in mathematical methods in science and technology, non-linear oscillations, existence conditions of limit cycles, numerical analysis, artificial intelligence, and computing machines and devices. On the other hand, he recognised the importance of publishing a new mathematical journal, in addition to the journal of mathematical society of Japan, to contain papers of pure and applied mathematics in general, when the publication of mathematical papers was so difficult. Actually, he started the publication of the journal "Mathematica Japonicae" using his own funds in 1948. In 1949, he left Osaka University and became professor at Kobe University. Around this time, he became interested in operations research and mathematics in management sciences, and also probability theory and mathematical statistics. In 1951, he moved again to professor of mathematical sciences at the University of Osaka Prefecture and continued the publication of Mathematica Japonicae. On the other hand he continued his work on the artificial intelligence, especially solving arithmetic problems using an electronic computer. Also, he continued his research work on the nonlinear oscillations. In 1961, he became professor at the Science University of Tokyo. There, he continued his research work in applied analysis, especially in nonlinear oscillations, pursuit of solutions of ordinary differential equations, and the pursuit of numerical solutions. Every time, he talked at the meeting of the Mathematical Society of Japan, until he reached 90 years of age. In this period, the Japanese Association of Mathematical Sciences was established and "Mathematica Japonica" became published by this Association. Now, Mathematica Japonica has become an international journal of mathematical sciences in its broader sense, circulating in the world, with international advisors and referees. Such a development of Mathematica Japonica is due to the freedom and borderless idea of mathematics of Dr Shimizu. He passed away in Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture, on 8 November 1992, with the age 95.
As with many mathematical societies, one of the main reasons behind the founding of the Japanese Association of Mathematical Sciences was to support publication of a journal. As noted above, Tatsujiro Shimizu established Mathematica Japonicae in 1948 and it was set up to publish papers in both pure and applied mathematics. The Association also published nine issues over three volumes of the journal Scientiae Mathematicae in 1998, 1999, and 2000. In 2001 the two journals were merged to form the Scientiae Mathematica Japonicae. The numbering, however, was retained from Mathematica Japonicae so that the first volume of Mathematica Japonicae which appeared in 2001 was Volume 53. On a personal note, let me [EFR] add that I reviewed one of the papers in the first issue to appear in 2001. The journal publishes three parts per volume and in some years two volumes appear.

The Japanese Association of Mathematical Sciences:-
... is a scientific research organisation whose main activity is to publish scientific journals in English, French or German. The Association is registered at Science Council of Japan, Liaison Committee for Mathematics, for Statistics, for Information Science, and for Business Administration.
In February 2005, the following was put to the members in a referendum:-
The name of the organization shall be changed from 'Japanese Association of Mathematical Sciences' (JAMS) to 'International Society for Mathematical Sciences' (ISMS) or to 'Society for Mathematical Sciences' (SfMS). The reasons for this change are: (1) Our organization was established originally aiming at being an international one; (2) A quarter of the membership is the members in foreign countries. Many internationally eminent mathematical scientists have joined the Editorial Board and give their generous help and support.
A two-thirds majority was required for this change which was achieved and the members voted to change the name to 'International Society for Mathematical Sciences'. The Byelaws of the Society, amended in 2005, state that [1]:-
There shall be a president, a president elect, an immediate past president, three secretaries and a treasurer. There shall be a Board of Trustees consisting of the treasurer, the auditor, the associate treasurer, the immediate past associate treasurer. The function of the Board of Trustees shall be to administer the funds of the Society, to make a budget for the fiscal year, and to produce the statement of account. The Council shall consist of eighteen members: six officers, eight foreign members and four domestic members. The function of the Council shall be to discuss the financial budget, the statement of account and the activities of the Society. The members of the Council shall be nominated by the Board of Officers with a confidence vote by the membership. The term of office shall be one and a half year in the case of the president elect and the immediate past president; three years in the case of the president, the secretaries, the treasurer. The president elect, the secretaries, and the treasurer shall be elected by ballot of the members.
The International Society for Mathematical Sciences holds an annual meeting and publishes a newsletter, Notices from the International Society for Mathematical Sciences.

Visit the society website.

References (show)

  1. International Society for Mathematical Sciences website. http://www.jams.or.jp
  2. H Sugiyama, A sketch of the life of Dr Shimizu, Math. Japon. 40 (1) (1994), 1-15.

Last Updated February 2018