Hilbert's problems and their sequels (Q1914963)

The author primarily reviews the mathematical developments arising from Hilbert's famous list of problems emphasizing the progress between 1975 and 1992 (the well-known survey edited by F. Browder appeared in 1976). He also argues that in the last 20 years, globally speaking, external needs are the principle motor driving mathematics. In this respect he points out the effect of electronic processing of data: on logic, on cryptography and signal theory, on the rapprochement of theoretical physics and mathematics, on applications of topology in formal calculi, on the theory of minimal surfaces, etc. Finally he suggests that mathematicians and other scientists write a program of twenty-first-century mathematics which would list the important problems deserving mathematicians efforts, new or renewed.