History

The Institute of Mathematical Statistics and Applied Mathematics “Gheorghe Mihoc-Caius Iacob” of the Romanian Academy (abbreviated ISMMA) was founded by the Romanian Government Decision no. 1366 of December 27, 2001, which ordered the merger of the Institute of Applied Mathematics with the Center for Mathematical Statistics “Gheorghe Mihoc” (at that time, research units subordinated to the Romanian Academy).

The Center for Mathematical Statistics “Gheorghe Mihoc” had been created on April 1, 1964, its basic research team coming from the probability division of the Institute of Mathematics (founded in 1949, also as a unit of the aforementioned learned society). The promoter of this development was Professor Gheorghe Mihoc (1906-1981), who became the Center’s first director, and after whom the Center has been renamed since 1997. Professor Marius Iosifescu, the last Director of the above Center became in 2001 the first Director of ISMMA, which he headed till March, 2020.

Historically, the roots of applied mathematics in Romania lie in researches conducted before 1990, and mainly in continuous media mechanics. However, the institutionalization of applied mathematics research, in the sense defined in the pleading text, begun in 1991 with the establishment of the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Romanian Academy. The steps of this realization were made with devotion by Professor Adelina Georgescu (1942-2010) together with a group of researchers from the former INCREST and the Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology in Bucharest, under academician Caius Iacob’s careful guidance and with academician N.N. Constantinescu’s essential support (N.N. Constantinescu was the general secretary of the Romanian Academy at that time).

The belief that mathematics must approach the problems of life and relate to the universe of physics, economics or biology has determined that research in applied mathematics should take place within an institutional framework.

Professor Adelina Georgescu became the first director of the Institute of Applied Mathematics, heading it until 1995. She was succeeded by Professor Dorel Homentcovschi who led the institute until 2001.

In 1992, Professor Adelina Georgescu founded the Romanian Society of Applied and Industrial Mathematics (ROMAI), which has become the editor of ROMAI magazine, as well as a traditional organizer of annual conferences of applied mathematics.