March 24, 2009.

Contemporary Mathematics Summer School
(Second half of July, 2009; Ratmino cultural center in Dubna, Russia)

The Contemporary Mathematics summer school has been organized since 2001 by the Russian Academy of Sciences (mathematical section), the Steklov Mathematical Institute, the Moscow Department for Education, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research and the Moscow Center for Continuous Mathematical Education.

Around a hundred students from the last two years of high school and the first two years of university take part in the ten days program. There, they choose amongst over 70 lectures and seminars. The classes are longer than ordinary school lessons, but shorter than university lectures: they take exactly 74 minutes each. Despite the fact that sometimes the weather is very hot, some students take part in 3-4 classes per day. The words, Contemporary Mathematics, in the title are not an exaggeration, as often courses have finished with a discussion of open problems.

The school is unique because of its students and professors. Among the professors have been some of the leading mathematicians of the country, V.I.Arnold, D.V.Anosov, A.V.Arhangel'skij, A.A.Kirillov, S.P.Novikov, A.B.Sossinsky, V.M.Tikhomirov, A.G.Khovanskij, M.A.Tsfasman, V.A.Uspensky, V.A.Vassiliev; there also have been young mathematicians, relatively recently having started their scientific path (A.Braverman, A.Bufetov, V.Kleptsyn, A.Kuznetsov). Due to the total freedom of the participants to choose the courses, experienced mathematicians sometimes face serious competition from their younger colleagues. The Organizing Committee has often had to correct the schedule of the courses so as to give the participants, as well as the teachers, the opportunity to visit the courses of their choice.

The list of students is also outstanding. Many of them in high school have received prizes at the toughest national and international competitions, others are invited by recommendations of the leading teachers and scientific advisors.

The school is a memorizable experience, not only for the mathematics, but also for the informal contacts made by the young elite of Russian mathematics between themselves and with older colleagues. Students will remember not only lectures and seminars, but also the conversations at the beach, volleyball battles with lecturers, football and tennis matches, and exciting ping-pong duels. In the evenings, songs accompanied on guitar can be heard in several locations around the school.

We believe that the past schools have been successful. Many professors have not wanted to leave (and have sometimes changed their plans to stay a few more days), and participants replied to cautious questionnaire questions asking "Weren't there too many courses?", that "We'd like to have more!". More than that, to the question "Would you like to come next year", instead of the typical "Sure!", one of the answers was "Yes, if you'll take me as a teacher".

A series of brochures with the notes of courses of past schools have been published.

This year, as in the past, the Summer School will take place at the "Ratmino" cultural center near Dubna, Russia, in the second half of July. We expect the school to last ten days, but the exact dates are not yet specified.

The School accommodated foreign students for the first time in 2007. Their scientific program consisted partly of specially organized talks in English, and partly of the translated Russian talks. This was continued in 2008. We hope that this tradition will be continued in 2009, that this summer the best math-loving scholars and students from different countries will join us again to spend ten days in contact with some of the best mathematicians in Russia.

This year, we can accommodate 8-12 foreign participants. The plenary lectures, and usually one of every (three or four) concurrent sectional courses will either be specially translated, or given in English.

We ask students who want to participate to fill in a questionnaire.
You can fill in either the Russian version, or the English version.
The deadline for the applications is fixed to be on May 10, 2009.

The participation fee is 370 euros, of which, 120 EUR is the inscription fee, and 250 EUR cover ten days' room and board. The fee covers all local expenses, but neither travel expenses, nor consulate fees.

Contacts of the Organizing Committee:
E-mail: dubna@mccme.ru
(Foreign participants contact: V. Kleptsyn, victor.kleptsyn@univ-rennes1.fr)
Address: 119002, Moscow, Bol'shoj Vlas'evskij per., d. 11.
(Please, pay attention: mail delivery to Russia can easily take two weeks, so we do not recommend this method of submission!)