100 years ago, in 1917 David Hilbert gave his seminal talk Axiomatisches Denken at a meeting of the Swiss Mathematical Society in Zurich. It marks the beginning of Hilbert's return to his foundational studies, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of proof theory as a new branch in the emerging field of mathematical logic. Hilbert also used the opportunity to bring Paul Bernays back to Göttingen as his main collaborator in foundational studies in the years to come.

The aim of this conference is to reevaluate the success of Hilbert's axiomatic method which did not only lay the foundations for the understanding of modern mathematics, but which also found its way in many applications, first of all - and as vividly advocated by Hilbert - in Physics. Even for the seemingly negative results, as in the case of Gödel's incompleteness theorems, it were Hilbert's sharply posed questions which opened up completely new and unexpected perspectives for our understanding of Mathematics.

This conference is jointly organized by the Académie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences and the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa and will take place in Lisbon, October 11-14, 2017.

For further information, please contact Reinhard Kahle (kahle@fct.unl.pt).