In January 2005 Dr. Alice Abreu was reconfirmed in her management
position at the Organization of American States (OAS) by Director
General José Miguel Insulza. As Director of the Office of Education,
Science, and Technology (OEST), Dr. Abreu not only watches over
developments in science and technology, as she did when she started in
2003, but also oversees two additional major areas: education and
culture, and social development and labor.
Since 2003, Hubert Gorbach
has been the Austrian Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Transport,
Innovation and Technology. On the occasion of the annual Alpbacher
Technologiegespräche (Austrian Technology Forum) that took place this
August, bridges
asked for an interview with
Hubert Gorbach. Although Mr. Gorbach could not attend Alpbach this year
due to his duties in connection with the heavy floodings
that hit Western Austria, bridges was able to interview him about the Lisbon Goals, Austria's upcoming EU Presidency
in 2006 and his point of view regarding "excellence" at Austrian
universities.
Judging by the recent surge of
interest in the mathematician Rudolf Taschner and his ouevre, one might
conclude that mathematics is hip and in – at least in Austria.
Apparently, there is no dearth of people drawn to Taschner’s
irresistible promise that the Gordian knot, as mathematics appears to
all too many people, can be cut. While Taschner doesn’t make that
promise literally – nor does he actually talk of a Gordian knot – he
certainly refuses to admit defeat in the face of all the bad press
mathematics has had over the years. Instead, he declares mathematics to
be utterly beautiful, simply irresistible, and tremendously relevant.
Judging by the recent surge of
interest in the mathematician Rudolf Taschner and his ouevre, one might
conclude that mathematics is hip and in – at least in Austria.
Apparently, there is no dearth of people drawn to Taschner’s
irresistible promise that the Gordian knot, as mathematics appears to
all too many people, can be cut. While Taschner doesn’t make that
promise literally – nor does he actually talk of a Gordian knot – he
certainly refuses to admit defeat in the face of all the bad press
mathematics has had over the years. Instead, he declares mathematics to
be utterly beautiful, simply irresistible, and tremendously relevant.
