IMPA celebrates 65 years of contributions to mathematics.

"The President of the National Research Council, using the powers conferred upon him by Article 8 of Law 1,310, RESOLVES to create the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics." With this simple formula, in a decree dated October 15, 1952, Rear Admiral Álvaro Alberto (1889-1976), scientist and founding president of CNPq, gave existence to one of the most prominent institutions of Brazilian science, which I have the privilege of directing.

At the time, IMPA did not have a physical headquarters: it was temporarily housed in a room at the Brazilian Center for Physical Research, founded three years earlier. And its scientific staff was small: besides the director, the astronomer Lélio Gama (1892-1981), who was also responsible for the National Observatory, the brand-new institute only had the young mathematicians Leopoldo Nachbin (1922-1993) and Maurício Peixoto, born in 1921 and, at 96 years old, an emeritus researcher at IMPA.

They were few, but good: Nachbin and Peixoto would become the first Brazilians invited to give lectures at the International Congress of Mathematicians, one of the greatest distinctions in a mathematician's career. Researchers at IMPA also didn't receive a salary: remuneration remained precarious until the 1970s, when the career was regulated.

Today, IMPA is one of the most recognized centers for mathematical research in the world. The quality of the work carried out by its researchers is on par with the best international institutions. Thanks to this prestige, we have also earned the honor of hosting the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro. In more than a century of history, this will be the first time that the main global event in the discipline will take place south of the equator.

IMPA also boasts the distinction of having "produced" a winner of the highest distinction in mathematics: its researcher Artur Avila , who holds a doctorate from IMPA, is the first Fields Medal laureate who was not only born but also raised and completed all his studies in a developing country.

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