Outreach & Media
Snapshots of Modern Mathematics
The snapshot project is designed to promote the understanding and appreciation of modern mathematics and mathematical research in the general public world-wide. "Snapshots of modern mathematics from Oberwolfach" are short articles written by participants of scientific program at the MFO. They provide exciting insights into current topics of the mathematical community for everyone who is interested in modern mathematics.
MiMa - Museum for Minerals and Mathematics
MiMa, the museum for minerals and mathematics Oberwolfach, presents two of the most unique features of the region: the scientific knowledge of the Mathematisches Forschungsinstituts Oberwolfach and the one-of-a-kind minerals of the Black Forest collected by the Verein der Freunde von Mineralien und Bergbau Oberwolfach e.V.!
Imaginary
IMAGINARY started in the German Year of Mathematics 2008 as an interactive travelling exhibition that presents visualisations, interactive installations, virtual worlds, 3D-objects and their mathematical background in an attractive and understandable way. Over the last years it has developed into an open source platform for interactive and participative math communication under the domain www.imaginary.org. The project has been supported by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung until 2016.
The aim of the platform “IMAGINARY – open mathematics” is to provide a space for the presentation and development of math exhibitions. All contents of IMAGINARY are made available to a broad audience under a free license and can thus be reproduced and used for individual exhibitions and events.
Today IMAGINARY is a non-profit organization for open and interactive mathematics. The Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach, where the project once was initiated, is now a shareholder of the organization.
Oberwolfach Photo Collection
The Oberwolfach Photo Collection is based on Konrad Jacobs' (Erlangen) large collection of photographs of mathematicians from all over the world. In the 1950's Professor Jacobs started to make copies of the photographs he had taken and donated these copies to the MFO. In 2005 he transferred his whole collection completely to the MFO. The collection also contains a lot of copies of pictures taken by George M. Bergman (Berkeley), Gerd Fischer (München) and other contributors. Since about 1998 we take photos from every single group visiting Oberwolfach and so try to continue this excellent collection.
Prizes
Approximately every three years the Oberwolfach Foundation and the Mathematische Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach award the Oberwolfach Prize and the John Todd Award to excellent early career mathematicians. The Scientific Committee of the Gesellschaft für mathematische Forschung e.V. is involved in selecting the prize winners from the nominations.
Oberwolfach Lectures
The Oberwolfach Lectures traditionally take place in October during the annual meetings of the Gesellschaft für Mathematische Forschung. Visitors are welcome. Due to the limited seating capacity please make a reservation two weeks in advance of the lecture. Written versions of the lectures are published in the annual reports of the MFO. Some of the lectures have also been recorded on video and can be viewed on our website.
Video lecture series for students
During the pandemic years 2020-2022 Gerhard Huisken and Stephan Klaus recorded several video lecture series for students and provided them on our website.
Education
While the main focus of the Institute's activities is on research, the Institute's program is completed by activities aiming at education and training for different groups of people. These activities comprise for example the Oberwolfach Seminars for recent postdocs and Ph.D. students and the training week for the candidates for the Mathematical Olympiad.
swMATH
swMATH is a freely accessible, innovative information service for mathematical software that provides not only access to an extensive database of information on mathematical software, but also includes a
systematic linking of software packages with relevant mathematical publications. swMATH has been developed in cooperation with FIZ Karlsruhe.
It offers for each software package a list of publications that refer to the software, in particular all publications indexed in Zentralblatt MATH (zbMATH). The publications can be articles that describe the background and technical details of a program, as well as those in which a piece of software is applied or used for research. Being listed in swMATH is a quality - seal for the software as it is cited in peer-reviewed work. The list of publications in swMATH that describe or use a software is a proof of the scientific impact of the software.
So far (Beginning of 2021) swMATH contains more than 35.000 software packages, linked to about 450.000 refereed publications and is steadily growing. It is by far the most comprehensive existing database on mathematical software. FIZ Karlsruhe is committed to maintain and further update swMATH by identifying new software packages and new publications indexed in zbMATH.
Oberwolfach References on Mathematical Software (ORMS)
Mathematical software has developed during the last twenty years to an established tool in mathematical research and education. Its importance is meanwhile comparable to that of mathematical literature. In contrast to the various systematic collections of mathematical literature, collections of mathematical software so far only exist in a rudimentary manner. In order to make the existing resources more visible and to use them efficiently, it is indispensable to provide appropriate methods and tools for locating, cataloguing, reviewing, and searching of mathematical software. The intention of the Oberwolfach References on Mathematical Software (ORMS) project is to initiate the development of a permanent provider of infrastructure.