Dear Peter,
This is to both
send my birthday greetings as well as apologies because most
unfortunately for me I will not be able to participate or even attend
your birthday celebration later this month. I truly regret this loss
of an opportunity to catch up with old friends and celebrate your
many wonderful achievements which happily promise to continue well
into the future. Like many others, your mathematical work and example
has inspired me personally and I've spend many profitable hours in
the company of your research and expository works which have provided
such clarity, interest and depth to our field. The shear ingenuity,
energy, enthusiasm and rich scholarship of your work has inspired a
generation of mathematicians to continue cultivating the beautiful
gardens of the old masters Lie and Cartan which may otherwise have
lain dormant and fallow.
Long ago I traveled to the twin
cities and had my first experience of the international mathematical
community (among other things). It was a formative moment which I
will not easily forget. Many of the people I met or heard about have
since become lifelong colleagues and friends. It started at the IMA
and for all that I would like to take this opportunity to thank you,
all be it not in person on this occasion.
I wish you good
health, many happy returns and I look forward to continuing to read
and be inspired by both your research and expository works into the
future.
With best wishes on your 60th Birthday.
Peter
Vassiliou.
Dear Willard,
Greetings, and thanks for keeping me informed on the conference
in honor of Peter Olver. It is with great pleasure that I have
learned of this program, and I wish to send my congratulations and
best wishes to Peter, whom i strongly admire. I regret that I shall
not be able to attend the dinner or participate directly in the
program, because my plans and actions are
too uncertain at my
advanced age.
Larry Markus
From Pavel Winternitz:
Dear Peter,
I wish you a most happy 60th birthday and congratulate you on your
massive achievements at so young an age!
I also apologize for my absence. I am in Prague and planned to come
back to North America for the conference. However from here we are
leaving to Turkey and I can no longer face up to that much traveling.
The conference program looks very interesting and the event is
certainly very well attended. So Happy Conference and I really regret
missing it.
All the best, Pavel