TIRANA, September 18 /ATA/ – A two-day international conference dedicated to contemporary developments in mathematics opened today at the Academy of Sciences of Albania (ASHSH). The event is organized by the Academy’s National Institute of Mathematics, in collaboration with the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tirana’s Faculty of Natural Sciences, and the “Hasan Prishtina” University of Pristina.
The Western Balkan Conference on Mathematics and Applications (WBCMA 2026) aims to provide a premier platform for academics and researchers to exchange ideas, present new research findings, and strengthen institutional cooperation in the field of mathematics.
Neki Frashëri, Head of the Natural and Technical Sciences Section, delivered the welcoming remarks on behalf of the Academy of Sciences of Albania (ASHSH). In his speech, he highlighted the event’s unique scientific value and underscored the vital importance of cooperation between the universities of Tirana and Pristina.
He also welcomed the international experts in attendance, specifically noting the participation of Academician David Kalaj from Montenegro—one of the region’s most renowned mathematicians specializing in complex analysis and harmonic mappings.
A highlight of the conference’s opening ceremony was the presentation of the certificate of foreign membership in the Academy of Sciences of Albania to Academician David Kalaj. The certificate was presented by the Academy’s President, Skënder Gjinushi.
Further on, Professor Kalaj presented one of his major scientific breakthroughs: solving two long-standing open problems in global mathematics—the Gauss Conjecture and the Nitsche-Hopf Conjecture on the curvature of minimal surfaces. Through an innovative geometric approach, the professor from Tuzi, Montenegro, succeeded in establishing the absolute curvature limits for these surfaces (famously visualized as soap films).
Published in the highly prestigious Duke Mathematical Journal, this groundbreaking discovery is an extraordinary contribution to global differential geometry that elevates Albanian science to the highest international academic heights. /p.s./
