Open letter to the Spanish Scientific Authorities

We, as members of the International Mathematical Community,  respectfully present our support for Prof. Manuel de León after his dismissal as director of ICMAT.

We learned from some major scientific publications that Prof. de León was  dismissed in spite of winning a vote for a new term, due to his very successful leadership.

Moreover, thanks to the efforts of Manuel de León, the activity conducted at the ICMAT during its brief existence has been truly remarkable. In this short period, the ICMAT has risen to become a leading center for mathematical research world-wide, a universal “home-away-from-home” for mathematicians.

The international mathematical community is extremely concerned. This interference in the result of a vote by his colleagues is causing  serious damage to ongoing activities and future mathematical programs in which Spain participates.

During his many years of productive work, Dr. de León has not only established a reputation as a leading researcher in Geometric Mechanics, but he has also offered, generously, a great deal of  his time both  to the international and Spanish mathematical communities, as described below.

Prof. Manuel de León,  internationally, has been

  • Member-at-Large of the International Mathematical Union Executive Committee, 2007-2014 (two terms).
  • Member of the Core Group of the PESC Committee, European Science Foundation, 2006-2012 (two terms).
  • Coordinator for the World Mathematical Year 2000 in Spain.
  • President of the ICM 2006, Madrid
  • Advisor for ICM 2010, 2014, 2018.
  • Executive Board of the International Council for Science, ICSU (2014-).

Dr. de León has also many other activities in which he has served the mathematical

community at large and has influenced the careers of many young scientists.

  • He is a member of  important international and Spanish scientific societies such as AMS, SIAM, RSME, RSEF, EMS, AGAPEMA-FESPM.
  • He is on the editorial boards of journals such as  Extracta Mathematicae, Reports on Math. Physics, Journal of Geometry and Symmetry in Physics, Mediterranean Mathematical Journal, International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics, Journal of Geometric Mechanics (Editor-in-Chief).
  • He has been on the organizing committees and scientific committees of a great number of workshops and conferences world wide.

In Spain, he has been

  • Vice-president of the Real Sociedad Matemática Española (until 2005)
  • Founder and President of the Spanish Committee of Mathematics (CEMAT), 2004-2007.
  • Founder and Director of the Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas, ICMAT (CSIC-UAM-UC3M-UCM). 
  • Member of the Committee of Physics and Engineering Physics, CSIC, 2001-2008 (two terms).
  • Coordinator of Mathematics of the Spanish Agency for Evaluation and Prospective (Ministry of Education and Science), 2003-2005
  • Member (Experimental Sciences) of the Advisory Committee for Evaluation and Prospective (Ministry of Education and Science), 2005-2010
  • Fellow of the Real Academia de Ciencias and the Academia Canaria de Ciencias.
Name Organization
María Barbero Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
Ana Maria Almeida Santos Pereira do Vale Universidade do Minho, Portugal
Francois Demoures Imperial College
Jesús Clemente-Gallardo University of Zaragoza
Darryl Holm Imperial College London
Diego Cordoba ICMAT-CSIC
James Montaldi University of Manchester
CTJ Dodson University of Manchester UK
Patricia Yanguas Sayas Universidad Pública de Navarra
Willy Sarlet Ghent University
Olga Rossi University of Ostrava & La Trobe University, Melbourne
Peter W. Michor University of Vienna
José María Barja Pérez Universidade da Coruña
Anthony Bloch University of Michigan
Miguel Vaquero ICMAT
Giuseppe Gaeta Universita' di Milano, Italy
Enrique Macías Virgós Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
Cornelia Vizman West University of Timisoara, Romania
Jesús Palacián Universidad Pública de Navarra
Melvin Leok University of California, San Diego
Javier Cilleruelo Universidadad Autónoma de Madrid and ICMAT
Lucía Búa Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (USC)
Eduardo García-Toraño Andrés Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
Carlos López UAH
Eduardo Martínez University of Zaragoza
Beatriz Rodríguez Moreiras Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Jair Koiller INMETRO/Brazil
Luis Hervella Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
María Elena Vázquez Abal Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Antonio De Nicola University of Coimbra, Portugal
Stephen Wiggins University of Bristol
Javier Fernandez Instituto Balseiro, Argentina
Fernando Barbero INSTITUTO DE ESTRUCTURA DE LA MATERIA, CSIC
Modesto Salgado Universidad de Santiago de Compostela
Leonardo Jesus Colombo University of Michigan
Rafael Orive Illera Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
François Gay-Balmaz CNRS - Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris
Andrew D. Lewis Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Marin Kobilarov Johns Hopkins University, USA
Sergio Grillo Instituto Balseiro - CONICET
Viviana Alejandra Díaz Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina
Marta Macho-Stadler UPV/EHU
Marcelo Epstein University of Calgary, Canada
Sonia Martinez University of California, San Diego
Cédric M. Campos Instituto de Matemáticas, UVA
Fernando Jimenez University of Waterloo, Canada
Luis C. García-Naranjo UNAM, Mexico
Ana M Mancho ICMAT, CSIC
Juan-Pablo Ortega CNRS, France
David Martín de Diego ICMAT, Madrid, Spain
J C Marrero University of La Laguna, Spain
Edith Padron Universidad de La Laguna

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