The world year of mathematics 2000. Past, present and future of mathematics. (Q2758466)

This publication (in Galego), presents the text of the opening lecture for the academic year 2000-2001 at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, Spain. In this lecture, Professor Luis A. Cordero Rego reflects on past and present mathematical trends. The style is lively and informal, as appropriate for a general audience. Professor Cordero Rego ponders on the nature of mathematics and continues with a brief analysis of the mathematical achievements of the twentieth century. Then he goes on to the challenges of the present century, in the form of the Millennium Prize Problems selected by the Clay Mathematical Institute on May 2000. For each of the problems, (P versus NP, the Hodge conjecture, the Poincaré conjecture, the Riemann hypothesis, the Yang-Mills theory, the Navier-Stokes equations, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture), the presenter develops an interesting brief historical panorama. The lecture ends with the presenter's thoughts on the apparent paradigm ``pure mathematics'' versus ``applied mathematics''. The publication includes a list of references.