List of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers

Last updated September 02, 2025

This is a list of International Congresses of Mathematicians Plenary and Invited Speakers. Being invited to talk at an International Congress of Mathematicians has been called "the equivalent, in this community, of an induction to a hall of fame."^[1] The current list of Plenary and Invited Speakers presented here is based on the ICM's post-WWII terminology, in which the one-hour speakers in the morning sessions are called "Plenary Speakers" and the other speakers (in the afternoon sessions) whose talks are included in the ICM published proceedings are called "Invited Speakers". In the pre-WW II congresses the Plenary Speakers were called "Invited Speakers".

Overview

During the 1900 Congress in Paris, France, David Hilbert announced his famous list of Hilbert's problems.^[2]
At the 1954 Congress of Mathematicians in Amsterdam, Richard Brauer announced his program for the classification of finite simple groups.^[3]
Alexander Grothendieck in his plenary lecture at the 1958 Congress outlined his programme "to create arithmetic geometry via a (new) reformulation of algebraic geometry, seeking maximal generality."^[4]
At the 1962 Congress in Stockholm Kiyosi Itô lectured on how to combine differential geometry and stochastic analysis, and this led to major advances in the 60s and 70s.^[5]

Speakers

1904, Heidelberg

1908, Rome

1912, Cambridge (UK)

1920, Strasbourg

1924, Toronto

1928, Bologna

1932, Zürich

1936, Oslo

1950, Cambridge (USA)

1954, Amsterdam

1958, Edinburgh

1962, Stockholm

1966, Moscow

1970, Nice

1974, Vancouver

1978, Helsinki

1983, Warsaw

1986, Berkeley

1990, Kyoto

1994, Zürich

1998, Berlin

2002, Beijing

2006, Madrid

2010, Hyderabad

2014, Seoul

2018, Rio de Janeiro

2022, Virtual

Most invited

This list inventories the mathematicians who were the most invited to speak to an ICM.

Rank	Name	#	Years	Nationality
1	Jacques Hadamard	9	1897, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1920, 1928, 1932, 1950	France
2	Émile Borel	7	1897, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1928, 1936	France
2	Jules Drach	7	1900, 1912, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936	France
4	Elie Cartan	6	1900, 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936	France
4	Gino Loria	6	1897, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1928, 1932	Italy
4	Vito Volterra	6	1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1920, 1928	Italy
7	Henri Fehr	5	1904, 1908, 1912, 1924, 1932	Switzerland
7	Rudolf Fueter	5	1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936	Switzerland
7	Yuri Manin	5	1966, 1970, 1978, 1986, 1990	Russia Germany
7	Mihailo Petrović	5	1908, 1912, 1924, 1928, 1932	Serbia
7	Cyparissos Stephanos	5	1897, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912	Greece
7	Carl Størmer	5	1908, 1920, 1924, 1932, 1936	Norway
7	Gheorghe Țițeica	5	1908, 1912, 1924, 1932, 1936	Romania
7	Stanisław Zaremba	5	1908, 1920, 1924, 1932, 1936	Poland

References

↑ Castelvecchi, Davide (7 October 2015). "The biggest mystery in mathematics: Shinichi Mochizuki and the impenetrable proof". Nature. 526 (7572): 178–181. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..178C. doi: 10.1038/526178a . PMID 26450038.
↑ Scott, Charlotte Angas (1900). "The International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 7 (2): 57–79. doi: 10.1090/s0002-9904-1900-00768-3 .
↑ Carl B. Boyer; Uta C. Merzbach (25 January 2011). A History of Mathematics (PDF). John Wiley & Sons. p. 592. ISBN 978-0-470-63056-3.
↑ Pierre Cartier. A country of which nothing is known but the name Grothendieck and “motives”.
↑ Jean-Paul Pier (September 2000). Development of Mathematics 1950-2000. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 437. ISBN 978-3-7643-6280-5.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Richardson, R. G. D. (1932). "International Congress of Mathematicians, Zurich, 1932". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 38 (11): 769–774. doi: 10.1090/S0002-9904-1932-05491-X .
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Morse, Marston. "The international Congress in Oslo." Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 42, no. 11 (1936): 777–781. doi : 10.1090/S0002-9904-1936-06421-9

See also

Plenary Speakers (in Russian), contribution titles, and URLs
International Mathematical Union: Proceedings 1893-2022

External links

"International Mathematical Union (IMU)". mathunion.org. Retrieved 2015-09-06.
"ICM Main invited speakers". www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk. Retrieved 2015-09-06.

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[1] Castelvecchi, Davide (7 October 2015). "The biggest mystery in mathematics: Shinichi Mochizuki and the impenetrable proof". Nature. 526 (7572): 178–181. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..178C. doi: 10.1038/526178a . PMID 26450038.

[2] Scott, Charlotte Angas (1900). "The International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris" (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 7 (2): 57–79. doi: 10.1090/s0002-9904-1900-00768-3 .

[BoyerMerzbach2011-3] Carl B. Boyer; Uta C. Merzbach (25 January 2011). A History of Mathematics (PDF). John Wiley & Sons. p. 592. ISBN 978-0-470-63056-3.

[4] Pierre Cartier. A country of which nothing is known but the name Grothendieck and “motives”.

[Pier2000-5] Jean-Paul Pier (September 2000). Development of Mathematics 1950-2000. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 437. ISBN 978-3-7643-6280-5.

[Inv1934-6] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Richardson, R. G. D. (1932). "International Congress of Mathematicians, Zurich, 1932". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 38 (11): 769–774. doi: 10.1090/S0002-9904-1932-05491-X .

[Inv-7] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Morse, Marston. "The international Congress in Oslo." Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 42, no. 11 (1936): 777–781. doi : 10.1090/S0002-9904-1936-06421-9

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