IHES Annual Report 2020 | 57

DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATION

Donation from Huawei Technologies France

Huawei Technologies France has decided to increase its commitment to the Institute with a 6 million donation. This donation, paid over a period of 10 years, is distributed as follows:

1 m, for the extension of the Huawei Algebraic Geometry Chair, created in 2019; 5 m dedicated to the creation of the Huawei Young Talents program, which will support the work in mathematics and theoretical physics of talented young researchers at the beginning of their career. The program will fund an average of 7 post-doctoral fellowships per year, awarded by the IHES Scientific Council. The program also offers the Institute the possibility to create a prestigious 5-year position to fund a young researcher with very high potential.

During the program's launch ceremony, held on November 6 via videoconference, Marwan Lahoud, Chairman of the IHES Board of Directors, Zishang Xiang, Vice President of Huawei's European Center for Research, and Weiling Shi, President of Huawei France, welcomed the creation of such a program supporting young people and fundamental research. Three of the five post-doctoral students already selected for this year gave a brief presentation of their research.

Explore the scientific heritage of the IHES in a virtual exhibition

During her four years at the Institute (from 2013 to 2017), science historian Anne-Sandrine Paumier created an exhibition charting the evolution of IHES since its creation in 1958. The exhibition was supported by the Diagonale Paris-Saclay and the Jacques Hadamard Mathematical Foundation.

A digital version of the exhibition, now accessible on the IHES website, was made possible with the support of Crédit Agricole Ile-de-France Mécénat.

International Event: A Glimpse into IHES

The meetings that usually take place throughout the year in France and in the United States (Cercle des Mécènes lectures, Scientific Breakfast and so on) were canceled. Friends of IHES and IHES therefore decided to organize a videoconference event at the end of the year for the entire IHES community. This unprecedented event brought together nearly a hundred people from Europe and the United States, and several hundred others have already watched the replay videos. After an introductory speech by Philippe Etienne, Ambassador of France in Washington, the event was divided into two parts. The first part allowed participants to discover or rediscover the Institute through a virtual tour of its main locations, followed by a discussion with Jim and Marilyn Simons, IHES s largest donors, and with Michael R. Douglas, the chairman of Friends of IHES. The second part was dedicated to a lecture by Slava Rychkov on the Universality of Physics.

Sixty years of the Institute's history in one book

To celebrate the Institute's 60th anniversary existence, Anne-Sandrine Paumier, historian, and Josselin Blieck, archivist, spent several months at the Institute writing a book, basing themselves on previously unpublished archives. After long and meticulous work with archive treasures (including official documents, letters and photos), A History of IHES was born. The book reviews the highlights of the Institute s first 60 years with a preface was written by Barry Mazur, American mathematician and long-time visitor of the Institute. The publication of this book was supported by Société Générale. The book is not for sale but a chapter can be read on the IHES website.