Aarhus University Seal

History

The Department of Mathematics was established at the same time as the Faculty of Science on 20 August 1954. The first professor of the Department, Svend Bundgaard, was responsible for the structure of the Institute and headed the Institute until he was appointed rector of Aarhus University in 1971. The first students were admitted in 1956 and the Department moved into its own buildings in 1958 and into the present buildings in 1967. In addition to the classic mathematical disciplines mathematical analysis, geometry and algebra, research groups were established in probability theory, statistics and computer science. In 1971, formal institutional sections were established for each of the areas mathematics, theoretical statistics and computer science. In 1986, the statistics section was expanded with an operations research group transferred from the economic research unit at the Faculty of Science. When the Faculty was encompassed by the University Act introduced in 1996, the formal section structure was abolished. On 1 January 1998 Computer Science was separated as an individual department under the Faculty. 1 August 2011, the department was renamed Department of Mathematics as a part of the structural changes at Aarhus University.