About

Mathematics and Astronomy walked together for thousands of years. Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton are good examples of this fruitful interaction between both disciplines. In medieval educational theory, the "quadrivium" consisted of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, which prove their common past in the development of science. More recently, the extraordinary works by Einstein with the General Theory of Relativity give new insights to our vision of the universe, in a wonderful cooperation of geometry and physics.

Topics like galactic and stellar dynamics, planetary atmospheres, radioactive transfer, hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic problems, statistical astronomy, celestial mechanics, cosmology, use sophisticated mathematics. Modelling such huge, complex systems, as galaxies or clusters of galaxies requires new computational techniques provided by mathematics.

The symposium will have a special session in order to discuss the approach the astronomy to the mathematical education. One of the aims will be to increase and promote the teaching and learning of astronomy integrated with mathematical contents in schools with special attention on research on education and innovative learning initiatives involving astronomy and mathematics. The objective of this session is to disseminate best practices in teaching and learning activities of astronomy.

Gender balance is a problem in research, so we will seek the participation of most leading female researchers in this field. In addition, female researchers, young students, and astronomers and mathematicians from developing countries will be specifically encouraged to apply in all the advertisements for this symposium.

The proposed symposium wants to show and stress these links with the occasion of the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy IYA2009.