Fields Secures the 1924 IMC
There were many large international meetings of mathematicians in the early twentieth century: Zurich (1897); Paris (1900); Oslo (1902); Heidelberg (1904); Rome (1908), and Cambridge (1912). The outbreak of World War I in 1914, however, put an end to international scientific co-operation.
The first post-war Congress was held in 1920 in Strasbourg, France. The International Mathematical Union (IMU) was founded there. The atmosphere was poisonous: the Congress affirmed that there could be no resumption of scientific relations with Germany and its former allies until Germany regained its right to be regarded as a “civilized nation.” The question then arose of the location of the next (1924) Congress. Hoping to calm the waters, the American delegation offered to host the 1924 meeting in the United States, far from the turmoil in Europe.
When the American Mathematical Society began to organize the 1924 Congress, however, they soon discovered that their membership was divided on the matter of including or excluding German participation. At a meeting in 1921, a suggestion was made to transfer the location to Canada. John Charles Fields jumped at the chance. In 1921, he had successfully hosted a meeting in Toronto of 2,000 members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was confident that with the support of President of the University of Toronto Robert Falconer and many sympathetic scientific colleagues at the University, and with the splendid facilities at Hart House and Convocation Hall, he could “swing it.” One obstacle was money.
Fields made trips to Montreal to gain the support of McGill people, to Queen’s Park to request financial support from the Ontario Government, and to Ottawa to see Prime Minister Mackenzie King. As a graduate of U of T, King was possibly sympathetic to the idea of a mathematical congress in Toronto and therefore to Fields’ urgent request for funds. The Federal Cabinet made a generous grant of $20,000 for the IMC and $10,000 for the Proceedings.
Fields then criss-crossed Europe to drum up attendance. He could offer $300.00 to defray travel expenses to delegates. He purposefully defined mathematics as broadly as possible, inviting architects, foresters, engineers, in short, all who used mathematics. He arranged travel for delegates while colleagues in Toronto found accommodations for them. Having done everything he could do, he returned to Toronto on 3 August. The 1924 IMC opened on 11 August.