WCNA 2000- Third World Congress of Nonlinear Analysts

The Third World Congress of Nonlinear Analysts WCNA-2000 was held in Catania, Italy during July 19-26, 2000.

The increasing compartmentalization and concomitant specialization of knowledge that has been the trend of the present century is undergoing subtle changes. The age of living in the increased estrangement between disciplines in the arts and sciences is slowly waning. The ideal of productively and deeply working in two or three disciplines which are not contiguous in the current geography of thought, such as mathematics and anthropology, political science and music, chemistry and philosophy is seen as within the realm of possibility. The idea that we should, of course, continue to value academic specialization but must also work for integration of knowledge and the reestablishment of truly liberal learning as the coherent intellectual core of academic institutions, is rapidly gaining ground.

Moreover the attempt to understand the nonlinear world is dominating large parts of mathematics in which is bound to increase in the next century. Thus, there is a definite need to have a forum, on a global basis, to forge unity in diversity and for bringing more cooperation and collaboration into the world community of nonlinear analysts. It is with this spirit, the International Federation of Nonlinear Analysts was established in 1992, which is a transdisciplinary world society. It promotes, encourages and sustains interest in the theory and application of nonlinear analysis and sponsors the World Congress of Nonlinear Analysts periodically once in four years.

Location

The University of Catania is the official host of the Congress. The University was founded in 1434. The Department of Mathematics is located in the University Campus (with a beautiful view to the sea and Etna volcano). The Campus is very well served by public (very reliable) buses to downtown and within walking distance. In this period, the climate in Catania is very pleasant.