Daniel Iagolnitzer

Although the Fields Medal does not have the same public recognition as the Nobel Prizes, they share a similar intellectual standing. It is restricted to the field of mathematics and an age limit of 40 has become an accepted tradition. This volume presents contributions from Fields Medallists.

Fields Medallists' Lectures

Jean Zinn-Justin

Vincent Rivasseau

The International Conference on Theoretical Physics, TH-2002, took place in Paris from July 22 to 27 in the Conference Center of the UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, under aegis of the IUPAP, the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and of the French and Euro pean Physical Societies, with a large support of several French, European and international Institutions. International and crossdisciplinary, TH-2002 welcomed around 1200 partic ipants representing all domains of modern theoretical physics. The conference offered a high-level scientific program, including 18 plenary lectures, 45 general lectures in thematic sessions and 140 more specialized lectures, partly invited and partly selected among proposals received from participants. Around 500 contribu tions were also presented as posters. Plenary lectures as well as general thematic lectures were addressed to a general audience of theoricians, not only to specialists. According to our commitments towards UNESCO and other sponsoring insti tutions, TH-2002 attributed more than 200 fellowships, mostly to scientists from developing countries and Eastern Europe, covering registration fees and, for more than half of them, stay expenses with student type accomodation. Special highlights of the conference included • the opening ceremony on July 22, with the participation of Mrs Claudie Haignere, French Minister of Research, and M. Walter Erdelen, General Ad joint Director for Sciences at UNESCO. Their opening addresses were espe cially appreciated and are reproduced below. This ceremony preceded the first lecture by Professor Cohen-Tannoudji, Physics Nobel prize winner.

TH-2002, Paris, July 22–27, 2002

International Conference on Theoretical Physics

Nils Andersson

Diana G. Collier

This book reflects a primary response by international civil society to US disregard for international law. It is a damning indictment of the Hiroshimas of our time. It provides a cogent elaboration of the international legal values to be defended, for humanity to triumph over the new wave of global barbarism brought about by the efforts of the United States to consolidate and extend the dimensions of its empire. Once the champion of the United Nations, the United States now skirts the Geneva Conventions, uses international humanitarian law as a pretext for intervention, engages in bombardments causing grave civilian losses, seeks to expand its options in relation to torture while continuing to render prisoners to countries known for its practice. Having failed in its effort to block the establishment of the International Criminal Court, the United States still refuses to ratify its Statute--even though the ICC Statute modified the rules of the 1977 Geneva Protocol and The Hague in an effort to satisfy the trajectory pursued by U.S. foreign policy. The United States' pursuit of a unilateral imperial policy based on military force destroys the credibility of the nascent international legal framework. Rather, the US is leading the world by example toward a future without rules or values, where humanity is subject to the whims of the more powerful. Former government officials, scholars, advocates and directors of international organizations operating at the highest level in the areas of international humanitarian law address the relevant international law, the threats thereto by US policy, its ramifications for the world system, and possible avenues of legal recourse.

The Case of the United States

International Justice and Impunity

Theoretical physics is a vast set of subjects, ideas and methods, with wide and unexpected applications to many interdisciplinary problems. But no general international conference had tried to review in depth this huge and burgeoning field since the Trieste conference in 1968. The International Conference on Theoretical Physics, TH-2002, which took place at the Unesco building, Paris, from July 22 to 27, 2002, addressed this challenge.The reader will find in this book all invited and received contributions to the conference. After the general lectures of Nobel prize winners Anderson and Yang, the contributions by experts cover all aspects of modern theoretical physics ranging from particle physics, string theory, cosmology, statistical and condensed matter physics to dynamical systems and quantum chaos, the physics/biology interface, information theory and quantum computing.

Daniel Iagolnitzer

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