The Allahabad Mathematical Society

Founded in 1958


The Allahabad Mathematical Society was founded in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, in northern India, on 25 November 1958 by Professor B N Prasad. It is [1]:-
... a non profit scientific organization for promoting the cause of advanced study and research in various branches of mathematics including theoretical physics and mathematical statistics. The Society provides an outlet for original researches through its publications and organizes lectures, symposia and conferences. The Society has reciprocity arrangement with various Societies including the American Mathematical Society, the Canadian Mathematical Society, the Cambridge Philosophical Society, the Edinburgh Mathematical Society and the London Mathematical Society.
Let us give a little information about Badri Nath Prasad. He was born on 12 January 1899 in the Azamgarh District of Uttar Pradesh, India. He was educated in both Urdu and Hindi and had equal command of both languages. He studied at Patna College, which at that time was affiliated to the University of Calcutta. He was awarded a B.Sc. from Patna College followed by a M.Sc. from the Banaras Hindu University in 1921. He then undertook research at the Department of Mathematics of the Banaras Hindu University where he was appointed as an assistant lecturer in 1922. He joined the University of Allahabad as a Lecturer in Mathematics in July 1924. He was given leave to travel to the UK in 1929 and, after spending a while at Edinburgh, he went to the University of Liverpool where he completed a Ph.D. in 1931 supervised by E C Titchmarsh. He then went to Paris where he worked under Arnaud Denjoy and was awarded a Docteur és Science in 1932 for his thesis Contribution á l'étude de la séries conjuguée d'une série de Fourier. He returned to the University of Allahabad where he had a highly successful career. His work for the Allahabad Mathematical Society at Allahabad is described in [2]:-
B N Prasad was also not quite happy with the working and the affairs of the Indian Mathematical Society. ... He believed that the duties of a mathematical society should not only be limited to organizing annual conferences and publishing journals, but they should also devise and successfully execute constructive programmes for promoting quality research in Mathematics. With this end in view, he founded the Allahabad Mathematical Society at Allahabad in December 1958. He ardently desired this Society to function as an effective forum for promoting the cause of advanced studies and research in Mathematics and, as the President of this Society, he constantly endeavoured to achieve this objective. The Allahabad Mathematical Society started the publication of a research journal called the Indian Journal of Mathematics. This Journal attained an international status very soon. Prasad completely identified himself with the welfare of the Society (even the office of the Society was accommodated in his own house at Allahabad), and had a very bright vision regarding its future growth.
The Allahabad Mathematical Society publishes two important journals, the Indian Journal of Mathematics and the Bulletin of the Allahabad Mathematical Society. We note that there are a number of Indian journals of mathematics with slightly different titles. In particular, the Indian Journal of Mathematics published by the Allahabad Mathematical Society is quite distinct from the Journal of the Indian Mathematical Society, published by the Indian Mathematical Society. Let us look briefly at the Journal and the Bulletin of the Allahabad Mathematical Society.

Indian Journal of Mathematics

The Indian Journal of Mathematics, which is devoted to original research papers in different branches of mathematics and mathematical statistics, began publication in 1958 with Part 1 of Volume 1 appearing in December of that year. The Journal has appeared annually with three parts per year since Volume 11 in 1969. A number of volumes have been dedicated to special events:
Volume 9 (1967) B N Prasad Memorial Volume.

Volume 20 (1978) P L Bhatnagar Memorial Volume.

Volume 22 (1980) C T Rajgopal Memorial Volume.

Volume 28 (1986) S R Sinha Memorial Volume.

Volume 29 (1987) Ramanujan Centenary Volume.

Volume 32 (1990) Hansraj Gupta Memorial Volume.

Volume 33 (1991) U N Singh Memorial Volume.

Volume 41 (1999) B N Prasad Birth Centenary Commemoration Volume I.

Volume 42 (2000) B N Prasad Birth Centenary Commemoration Volume II.

Volume 50 (2008) Golden Jubilee Year Volume.

Volume 51 (2009) Pramila Srivastava Memorial Volume.

Volume 52 (2010) T Pati Memorial Volume.

Volume 56 (2014) Special Volume Dedicated to Professor Billy E Rhodes
We note that Volume 33 is dedicated to U N Singh who was the President of the Allahabad Mathematical Society from 1976 to 1986. The first paper in that Volume is [3], namely B S Yadav, U N Singh: His life and Work, Indian Journal of Mathematics 33 (1991), i-xxiv. We give an extract from this paper at THIS LINK.

Bulletin of the Allahabad Mathematical Society

The Bulletin of the Allahabad Mathematical Society was first published in 1986. From Volume 23 in 2008 the journal has appeared annually with two parts per year. A number of volumes have been dedicated to special events:
Volume 23 (2008) Golden Jubilee Year Volume.

Volume 24 (2009) Pramila Srivastava Memorial Volume.

Volume 25 (2010) T Pati Memorial Volume
The Society also publishes a Lecture Note Series [1]:-
With the objective of providing instructional courses on a wide range of basic topics in "mathematics today" to students in India, the Allahabad Mathematical Society initiated inviting authors to contribute to this series. These lecture notes are expected to have an independent view point regarding the choice and presentation of material to be incorporated and thereby to provide direction and basis for improvement of curricula of Indian Universities. Proper care is planned to be taken for putting the notes in a most communicative language with prerequisites reduced to a minimum. A synthesis of classical and modern approaches is sought.
Four volumes of this series have appeared: Pramila Srivastava, Functions of Several Variables (1990); C J Mozzochi and S A Naimpally, Uniformity and Proximity (2009); John G Hocking and Somashekhar A Naimpally, Nearness - A Better Approach to Continuity and Limits (2009); and C J Mozzochi, The Fermat Proof.

The first conference of the Allahabad Mathematical Society was held in Allahabad on 18 November 1967. The welcoming address was given by K L Misra and the inaugural address by V G Oak.

Visit the society website.

References (show)

  1. Allahabad Mathematical Society website. http://www.amsallahabad.org/aboutus.html
  2. Professor B N Prasad. http://www.amsallahabad.org/bnprasad.html
  3. B S Yadav, U N Singh: His life and Work, Indian Journal of Mathematics 33 (1991), i-xxiv.

Last Updated February 2018