Schappacher’s book provides the most comprehensive and exciting take on the history of the IMU since Olli Lehto’s “Mathematics without borders, a history of the International Mathematical Union”, and more broadly analyzes the historical context of today’s mathematics and its place in world culture.
It is available in open access and can be freely downloaded from here.
The origins of this project date back to 2019, when – following a call made to all AOs (see AO CL 10/2019) – the IMU solicited the writing of a book to mark the occasion of the centennial of the founding of the IMU in 1920. The project is generously sponsored by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.