The Georgian Mathematical Society was founded on 21 February 1923. It is now known as the Georgian Mathematical Union having changed its name in 1994. Let us go back to 1923 and look briefly at the beginnings of the Society.
The founder of the Society was Andrei Razmadze He graduatedfrom Kutaisi nonclassical secondary school in 1906 (where Public School #41 has been renamed for him) , one of the founders of Tbilisi University, who taught at that university from the time that it opened in 1918.
He held a chair in the Physics and Mathematics Faculty in Tbilisi for the rest of his life. The Society flourished for six years from 1923 to 1929 during which time Razmadze was its President. However, after Razmadze died in 1929 the Society became inactive and was not revived until the 1960s. Following Razmadze's death Leonida Tonelli wrote:- Mathematics in the person of A Razmadze has lost one of its outstanding scientists, researcher with lucid mentality and keen intellect.
After over 30 years when the Georgian Mathematical Society was totally inactive, there was a move to bring it back to life. This move came about mainly through the efforts of V. Kupradze, B. Khvedelidze, L.Gokieli and A. Kharadze. Let us give a little information about L Gokieli, who was from Kutaisi.
Levan Gokieli (born 3 December 1901, died 4 January 1975) was born in Kutaisi, Georgia. He studied in the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Tbilisi State University, graduating in 1924. He was appointed to Tbilisi State University in the following year and was promoted to professor in 1936. He was also appointed to the Mathematical Institute of the Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences in 1935. His main research was on mathematical logic, set theory, the history of mathematics and the philosophy of mathematics. Reviews of his papers, however, suggest that his philosophical arguments are of little relevance to mathematics. He served the re-formed Georgian Mathematical Society as its third President from 1966 to 1970, following the presidency of Viktor Kupradze.
