History

The New York Group Theory Cooperative grew out of the New York Group Theory Seminar and was made possible by generous support of the National Science Foundation. This included the research into a number of purely group-theoretical research projects and the creation and development of an innovative software package for infinite groups called MAGNUS.

The New York Group Theory Seminar has its roots in a seminar held at the Courant Institute in the late 1950s and organized by Wilhelm Magnus. When Baumslag joined the Courant in 1960, the seminar became a fixture of life in the New York academic community and was the inspiration for the creation of other seminars, such as the New York Number Theory Seminar. Since 1960 the New York Group Theory Seminar has been run continuously until the present time. It is held at the Graduate Center of CUNY with strong support from the Dean of Engineering of CCNY, Dean Joe Barba. The many achievements of the Group Theory Cooperative include help in the further development of the computer algebra system AXIOM, the second reprint service after that of algebraic geometry now taken over by the American Mathematical Society and the introduction of genetic algorithms into group theory. In the last few years the New York Group theory Cooperative has been taken over by CAISS, the Center for Algorithms and Interactive Scientific Software. Have a look at www.caissny.org

which includes the people involved in both the New York Group Theory Cooperative and CAISS and some of the projects that have been undertaken by both.