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Mervan Pasic Croatian mathematician invited by Japanese colleagues
http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/9952/1/Mervan-Pasic-Croatian-mathematician-invited-by-Japanese-colleagues.html
By Prof.Dr. Darko Zubrinic
Published on 04/3/2010
 
 Dr. Mervan Pašić, professor of Mathematics at the University of Zagreb, visited Japan from November 11-22 2009 upon the invitation of Japanese mathematicians: Yuki Naito, Hiroyuki Usami, Tetsutaro Shibata and Jitsuro Sugie. He delivered an invited lecture at the University of Hiroshima and a plenary lecture at the University of Kyoto. The cities of Kyoto and Zagreb are twinned since 1972.
Invited lecture at the University of Hiroshima and plenary lecture at the University of Kyoto


Professors Hiroyuki Usami and Mervan Pašić in Hiroshima


Professors Hiroyuki Usami, Mervan Pašić and Jitsuro Sugie in Hiroshima

 
Dr. Mervan Pašić visited Japan from November 11-22 2009, upon the invitation of two Japanese mathematicians: Yuki Naito (Eshime University) and Hiroyuki Usami (Hiroshima University).

He had the honour to deliver an invited lecture at the ''International Workshop on Qualitative Theory of ODE's in Hiroshima 2009'' [ODE = Ordinary Differential Equations], organized at the Hiroshima University. The title of his talk was Fractal oscillations: details, closed and open problems. We stress here that Mervan Pašić, professor of Mathematics at the University of Zagreb, layed down the foundations for this very interesting theory.

After Hiroshima he visited the Universtiy of Kyoto from November  17-22 2009 upon the invitation of another two Japanese professors:  Tetsutaro Shibata (Hiroshima University) and Jitsuro Sugie (Shimane University). In Kyoto he had an exceptional honour to deliver a plenary (one hour) talk at the ''RIMS Conference: New Developments of Functional Equations in Mathematical Analysis'', held at the Faculty of Science Kyoto University [RIMS = Research in Mathematical Sciences]. The subject of his talk was Rectifiable, unrectifiable and fractal oscillations in differential equations'. He had fruitful discussions with Japanese mathematicians, and his visit was in fact a start of the collaboration of the University of Zagreb and the Universities of Hiroshima and Kyoto in the field of Mathematics.

All the photos on which Dr. Mervan Pašić is not present were taken by himself.


Professors Hiroyuki Usami, Mervan Pašić and Yuki Naito in Kyoto


Hiroshima University


Peace Memorial Park, Miyajima, Hiroshima


Department of Mathematics, University of Kyoto


Bycicles parked at the Kyoto University

 
Here we provide a few personal remarks by Dr. Mervan Pašić after his return from Japan to Croatia:

  • there is a deep mutual respect between people, both known and unknown;
  • the bycicles are pretty popular, as we can see on the above photo;
  • lunch bills contain a short description of the number of calories for each sort of the food bought;
  • a lots of water is consumed during lunches, and after that comes the tea;
  • at a conference, during several hours after a lunch, the sleep in sitting position is tolerated, with heads bowed, regardles where you are - at a seminar, lecture, or similar;
  • the rules of life are simple and all the people obey to them; for example the rear and middle doors of the bus are for entrance only, while the front door is for getting off; even in the case of great rush, in order to get off everybody descends exclusively at the front door;
  • the people are relaxed, kind and friendly.



Golden Temple in Kyoto


Students in Kyoto


Mervan Pašić, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Zagreb
and editor in chief of Differential Equations and Applications,
with his son Patrik.

 
Professor Mervan Pašić is the first Croatian mathematician to collaborate with Japanese mathematicians in the field of Differential Equations. However he is not the first Croatian mathematician to have contacts with Japan. Academician Sibe Mardešić collaborated with Japanese mathematicians in the field of Topology (and in particular in Shape Theory). In 1981 he spent two months in Japan upon the invitation of the University of Tsukuba. Goran Muić, professor at the University of Zagreb, working in the field of Representation Theory of Groups, had the honour to deliver two invited lectures at the University of Kyoto in 2003.

And probably the most interesting Croatian mathematician related to Japan is academician Vladimir Devidé. His professional work was in the field of Mathematical Logic. He is widely known, also outside of Croatia, for his tireless and very fruitful work in popularizing Japanese culture, and in particular Japanese poetry.

Croatia - Japan



A temple in Kyoto.
Croatia's capital Zagreb is twinned with the city of Kyoto since 1972.


Kyoto and Zagreb are sister cities.
Photo by Professor Mervan Pašić in Kyoto.

Formated for CROWN by prof.dr. Darko Žubrinić
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