Fields Medal

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Fields Medal

The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
s not over 40 years of age at each International Congress

International Congress of Mathematicians

The International Congress of Mathematicians is the largest congress in the mathematics community. It is held once every four years under the auspices of the International Mathematical Union ....
of the International Mathematical Union

International Mathematical Union

The International Mathematical Union is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics....
, a meeting that takes place every four years. The Fields Medal is often viewed as the top honor a mathematician can receive. It comes with a monetary award, which in 2006 was C$

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies....
15,000 (US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
15,000 or €

Euro

The euro is the official currency of 16 out of 27 European Union member state of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain....
10,000). Founded at the behest of Canadian

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
mathematician John Charles Fields

John Charles Fields

John Charles Fields, Royal Society, Royal Society of Canada was a Canada mathematician and the founder of the Fields Medal for outstanding achievement in mathematics....
, the medal was first awarded in 1936, to Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors

Lars Ahlfors

Lars Valerian Ahlfors was a Finland mathematician, remembered for his work in the field of Riemann surfaces and his text on complex analysis....
and American mathematician Jesse Douglas

Jesse Douglas

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Encyclopedia

The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics....
s not over 40 years of age at each International Congress

International Congress of Mathematicians

International Mathematical Union

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies....
15,000 (US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States and was defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 to be between 371 and 416 grains of silver ....
15,000 or €

Euro

Canada

John Charles Fields

Lars Ahlfors

Lars Valerian Ahlfors was a Finland mathematician, remembered for his work in the field of Riemann surfaces and his text on complex analysis....
and American mathematician Jesse Douglas

Jesse Douglas

Jesse Douglas was an United States mathematician. He was born in New York and attended Columbia College of Columbia University from 1920?1924. Douglas was one of two winners of the first Fields Medals, awarded in 1936....
, and has been regularly awarded since 1950. Its purpose is to give recognition and support to younger mathematical researchers who have made major contributions.

Conditions of the award

The Fields Medal is often described as the "Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize , established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature, and Nobel Peace Prize in 1901....
of Mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
" for the prestige it carries, though in most other ways the relatively new Abel Prize

Abel Prize

The Abel Prize is an international prize presented annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. The prize is named after Norwegian people mathematician Niels Henrik Abel ....
is a more direct analogue. The comparison is not entirely accurate because the Fields Medal is only awarded every four years. The Medal also has an age limit: a recipient's 40th birthday must not occur before January 1 of the year in which the Fields Medal is awarded. As a result many great mathematicians have missed it by having done their best work (or having had their work recognized) too late in life. The 40-year rule is based on Fields' desire that

… while it was in recognition of work already done, it was at the same time intended to be an encouragement for further achievement on the part of the recipients and a stimulus to renewed effort on the part of others.

The monetary award is much lower than the roughly US$1.5 million given with each Nobel prize. Finally, Fields Medals have generally been awarded for a body of work, rather than for a particular result; and instead of a direct citation there is a speech of congratulation.

Other major awards in mathematics, such as the Wolf Prize in Mathematics

Wolf Prize in Mathematics

The Wolf Prize in Mathematics is awarded once a year by the Wolf Foundation. It is one of the six Wolf Prizes established by the Foundation and awarded since 1978; the others are in Wolf Prize in Agriculture, Wolf Prize in Chemistry, Wolf Prize in Medicine, Wolf Prize in Physics and Wolf Prize in Arts....
and the Abel Prize

Abel Prize

The Abel Prize is an international prize presented annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. The prize is named after Norwegian people mathematician Niels Henrik Abel ....
, recognise lifetime achievement, again making them different in kind from the Nobels, although the Abel has a large monetary prize like a Nobel. The Fields Medal has the prestige of the selection by the IMU

International Mathematical Union

The International Mathematical Union is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics....
, which represents the world mathematical community.

Fields Medalists

Year	ICM International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians is the largest congress in the mathematics community. It is held once every four years under the auspices of the International Mathematical Union .... Location	Medalists
1936	Oslo Oslo is the Capital and largest List of cities in Norway in Norway.Metropolitan Oslo or the Greater Oslo Region makes up the third largest urban area in Scandinavia after Metropolitan Stockholm and Metropolitan Copenhagen.... , Norway Norway Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....	Lars Ahlfors Lars Ahlfors Lars Valerian Ahlfors was a Finland mathematician, remembered for his work in the field of Riemann surfaces and his text on complex analysis.... , Finland Jesse Douglas Jesse Douglas Jesse Douglas was an United States mathematician. He was born in New York and attended Columbia College of Columbia University from 1920?1924. Douglas was one of two winners of the first Fields Medals, awarded in 1936.... , USA
1950	Cambridge Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge is a city in the Greater Boston area of Massachusetts, United States. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England.... , United States United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...	Laurent Schwartz Laurent Schwartz Laurent-Mo?se Schwartz was a France mathematician.... , France Atle Selberg Atle Selberg Atle Selberg was a Norway mathematician known for his work in analytic number theory, and in the theory of automorphic forms, in particular bringing them into relation with spectral theory.... , Norway
1954	Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam is the Capital of the Netherlands and List of cities in the Netherlands with over 100,000 people of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands of North Holland in the west of the country.... , The Netherlands	Kunihiko Kodaira Kunihiko Kodaira was a Japanese mathematician known for distinguished work in algebraic geometry and the theory of complex manifolds, and as the founder of the Japanese school of algebraic geometers.... , Japan Jean-Pierre Serre Jean-Pierre Serre Jean-Pierre Serre is a French mathematician in the fields of algebraic geometry, number theory and topology. He has received numerous awards and honors for his mathematical research and exposition, including the Fields Medal in 1954 and the Abel Prize in 2003.... , France
1958	Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow.... , United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....	Klaus Roth Klaus Roth Klaus Friedrich Roth, is a British mathematician known for work on diophantine approximation, the large sieve, and discrepancy theory. He was born in Breslau but raised and educated in the UK.... , UK René Thom René Thom Ren? Thom was a France mathematician. He made his reputation as a topologist, moving on to aspects of what would be called singularity theory; he became world-famous among the wider academic community and the educated general public for one aspect of this latter interest, his work as founder of catastrophe theory .... , France
1962	Stockholm Stockholm is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish Government of Sweden, the Parliament of Sweden, and the official residence of the Swedish Monarchy of Sweden.... , Sweden Sweden Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic countries on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden has land borders with Norway to the west and Finland to the northeast, and it is connected to Denmark by the ?resund Bridge in the south....	Lars Hörmander Lars Hörmander Lars Valter H?rmander is a Sweden mathematician who has been called "the foremost contributor to the modern theory of linear partial differential equations".... , Sweden John Milnor John Milnor John Willard Milnor is an United States mathematician known for his work in differential topology, K-theory, and dynamical systems, and for his influential books.... , USA
1966	Moscow Moscow Moscow is the capital and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of the Russian Federation. It is also the largest European cities and metropolitan areas, with the Moscow metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world.... , Soviet Union Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....	Michael Atiyah Michael Atiyah Sir Michael Francis Atiyah, Order of Merit , Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh is a United Kingdom mathematician, and one of the most influential mathematicians of the twentieth century.... , UK Paul Joseph Cohen Paul Cohen (mathematician) Paul Joseph Cohen was an United States mathematician best known for his proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis and the axiom of choice from Zermelo?Fraenkel set theory, the most widely accepted axiomatization of set theory.... , USA Alexander Grothendieck Alexander Grothendieck Alexander Grothendieck is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. He is most famous for his revolutionary advances in algebraic geometry, but he has also made major contributions to algebraic topology, number theory, category theory, Galois theory, descent theory, commutative homological algebra and functiona... , France Stephen Smale Stephen Smale Stephen Smale is an United States mathematician from Flint, Michigan. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966, and spent more than three decades on the mathematics faculty of the University of California, Berkeley .... , USA
1970	Nice Nice Nice is a city in Southern France France located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 1,197,751 inhabitants in the 2007 estimate.... , France France France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....	Alan Baker Alan Baker Alan Baker is an England mathematician. He was born in London. He is known for his work on effective methods in number theory, in particular those arising from transcendence theory.... , UK Heisuke Hironaka Heisuke Hironaka Heisuke Hironaka is a Japanese mathematician. After completing his undergraduate studies at Kyoto University, he received his Ph. D. from Harvard while under the direction of Oscar Zariski.... , Japan Sergei Novikov Sergei Petrovich Novikov Sergei Petrovich Novikov is a Russian mathematician, noted for work in both algebraic topology and soliton theory.... , Soviet Union John G. Thompson John G. Thompson John Griggs Thompson is a mathematician noted for his work in the field of finite groups. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970 and the 2008 Abel Prize.... , USA
1974	Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest city in British Columbia and the second largest metropolitan area in the Pacific Northwest region.... , Canada Canada Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....	Enrico Bombieri Enrico Bombieri Enrico Bombieri is an Italy mathematician, born in Milan. He is now at the Institute for Advanced Study. He is known for work in number theory, algebraic geometry, and mathematical analysis.... , Italy David Mumford David Mumford David Bryant Mumford is a mathematician known for distinguished work in algebraic geometry, and then for research into vision and pattern theory.... , UK
1978	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea.... , Finland Finland Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....	Pierre Deligne Pierre Deligne Pierre Ren?, Viscount Deligne is a Belgium mathematician. He is known for fundamental work on the Weil conjectures, leading finally to a complete proof in 1973.... , Belgium Charles Fefferman Charles Fefferman Charles Louis Fefferman is an United States mathematician at Princeton University. His primary field of research is mathematical analysis.A child prodigy, Fefferman entered college by twelve and had written his first scientific paper by the age of 15 in German language.... , USA Grigory Margulis Grigory Margulis Gregori Aleksandrovich Margulis is a Russian mathematician known for his far-reaching work on lattice s in Lie groups, and the introduction of methods from ergodic theory into diophantine approximation.... , Soviet Union Daniel Quillen Daniel Quillen Daniel Gray Quillen is an United States mathematician and a Fields Medalist.From 1984 to 2006 he was the Waynflete Professorships#Waynflete Professors of Pure Mathematics at Magdalen College, Oxford.... , USA
1982	Warsaw Warsaw Warsaw is the Capital and World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains.... , Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....	Alain Connes Alain Connes Alain Connes is a France mathematician, currently Professor at the College de France, IH?S and Vanderbilt University.... , France William Thurston William Thurston William Paul Thurston is an United States mathematician. He is a pioneer in the field of low-dimensional topology. In 1982, he was awarded the Fields medal for the depth and originality of his contributions to mathematics.... , USA Shing-Tung Yau Shing-Tung Yau Shing-Tung Yau is a Chinese American mathematician working in differential geometry, and involved in the theory of Calabi-Yau manifolds.... , USA
1986	Berkeley Berkeley, California Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland, California and Emeryville, California.... , United States United States The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...	Simon Donaldson Simon Donaldson Simon Kirwan Donaldson Fellow of the Royal Society , is an England mathematician famous for his work on the topology of smooth four-dimensional manifolds.... , UK Gerd Faltings Gerd Faltings Gerd Faltings is a Germany mathematician known for his work in arithmetic algebraic geometry.From 1972 to 1978, he studied mathematics and physics at the University of M?nster.... , Germany Michael Freedman Michael Freedman Michael Hartley Freedman is a mathematician at Microsoft Station Q. In 1986, he was awarded a Fields Medal for his work on the Poincar? conjecture.... , USA
1990	Kyoto Kyoto Sorry, no overview for this topic , Japan Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....	Vladimir Drinfel'd Vladimir Drinfel'd Vladimir Gershonovich Drinfel'd is a Ukraine and Soviet Union mathematician currently working in the USA. The work of Drinfel'd related algebraic geometry over finite fields with number theory, especially the theory of automorphic forms, through the notions of elliptic module and the theory of the geometric Langlands correspondence.... , Soviet Union Vaughan F. R. Jones Vaughan Jones Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones, New Zealand Order of Merit, Royal Society, Royal Society of New Zealand is a New Zealand mathematician, known for his work on von Neumann algebras, knot polynomials and conformal field theory.... , New Zealand Shigefumi Mori Shigefumi Mori Shigefumi Mori is a Japanese mathematician, known for his work in algebraic geometry, particularly in relation to the classification of three-folds.... , Japan Edward Witten Edward Witten Edward Witten is an United States theoretical physicist and professor at the Institute for Advanced Study. He is one of the world's leading researchers in superstring theory.... , USA
1994	Zürich Zürich Z?rich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Z?rich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne.... , Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....	Jean Bourgain Jean Bourgain Jean Bourgain is a Belgian mathematician, noted as a prolific problem-solver. He has been a faculty member at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and now at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.... , Belgium Pierre-Louis Lions Pierre-Louis Lions Pierre-Louis Lions is a French people mathematician. His parents were Jacques-Louis Lions, a mathematician and professor at the University of Nancy, and Andr?e Olivier, his wife.... , France Jean-Christophe Yoccoz Jean-Christophe Yoccoz Jean-Christophe Yoccoz is a France mathematician. He was awarded a Fields Medal in 1994, for his work on dynamical systems.... , France Efim Zelmanov Efim Zelmanov Efim Isaakovich Zelmanov is a mathematician, known for his work on combinatorial problems in nonassociative algebra and group theory, including his solution of the restricted Burnside problem.... , Russia
1998	Berlin Berlin Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city.... , Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....	Richard Borcherds Richard Borcherds Richard Ewen Borcherds is a United Kingdom mathematician specializing in lattice , number theory, group theory, and infinite-dimensional algebras.... , UK Timothy Gowers, UK Maxim Kontsevich Maxim Kontsevich Maxim Lvovich Kontsevich is a Russians mathematician. He received a Fields Medal in 1998, at the 23rd International Congress of Mathematicians in Berlin.... , Russia Curtis T. McMullen Curtis T. McMullen Curtis Tracy McMullen is Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1998 for his work in complex dynamics, hyperbolic geometry and Teichm?ller theory.... , USA
2002	Beijing Beijing is a metropolis in northern China and the Capital of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the four municipality of China, which are equivalent to province in China's Political divisions of China.... , China China China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....	Laurent Lafforgue Laurent Lafforgue Laurent Lafforgue is a France mathematician.He entered the ?cole Normale Sup?rieure in 1986. In 1994 he received his Doctor of Philosophy under the direction of G?rard Laumon in the Arithmetic and Algebraic Geometry team at the Universit? de Paris-Sud.... , France Vladimir Voevodsky Vladimir Voevodsky Vladimir Voevodsky is a Russians mathematician. His work in developing a homotopy theory for algebraic varieties and formulating motivic cohomology led to the award of a Fields Medal in 2002.... , Russia
2006	Madrid Madrid Madrid is the Capital and largest city of Spain. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its Madrid metropolitan area is the Largest urban areas of the European Union in the European Union after Paris aire urbaine, Greater London Urban Area, a... , Spain Spain Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....	Andrei Okounkov Andrei Okounkov Andrei Yuryevich Okounkov is a Russian mathematician who works on representation theory and its applications to algebraic geometry, mathematical physics, probability theory and special functions.... , Russia, "for his contributions bridging probability Probability Probability, or wikt:chance, is a way of expressing knowledge or belief that an Event will occur or has occurred. In mathematics the concept has been given an exact meaning in probability theory, that is used extensively in such areas of study as mathematics, statistics, finance, gambling, science, and philosophy to draw conclusions about t... , representation theory Representation theory Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebra algebraic structures by representing their element as linear transformations of vector spaces.... and algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics which, as the name suggests, combines techniques of abstract algebra, especially commutative algebra, with the language and the problems of geometry.... " Grigori Perelman Grigori Perelman Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman , born 13 June 1966 in Saint Petersburg, Soviet Union , sometimes known as Grisha Perelman, is a Russian mathematician who has made landmark contributions to Riemannian geometry and geometric topology.... , Russia — Medal declined, "for his contributions to geometry Geometry Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers.... and his revolutionary insights into the analytical and geometric structure of the Ricci flow Ricci flow In differential geometry, the Ricci flow is an intrinsic geometric flow?a process which deforms the metric of a Riemannian manifold?in this case in a manner formally analogous to the diffusion of heat, thereby smoothing out irregularities in the metric.... " Terence Tao Terence Tao Terence Chi-Shen Tao Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society#Fellowship is an Australian mathematician working primarily on harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, combinatorics, analytic number theory and representation theory.... , Australia, "for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics Combinatorics Combinatorics is a branch of pure mathematics concerning the study of Countable set objects. It is related to many other areas of mathematics, such as algebra, probability theory, ergodic theory and geometry, as well as to applied subjects in computer science and statistical physics.... , harmonic analysis Harmonic analysis Harmonic analysis is the branch of mathematics that studies the representation of functions or signals as the superposition of basic waves. It investigates and generalizes the notions of Fourier series and Fourier transforms.... and additive number theory Additive number theory In mathematics, additive number theory is a branch of number theory that studies ways to express an integer as the sum of integers in a set. Two classical problem in this area of number theory are the Goldbach conjecture and Waring's problem.... " Wendelin Werner Wendelin Werner Wendelin Werner is a German-born France mathematician working in the area of self-avoiding random walks, Schramm-Loewner evolution, and related theories in probability theory and mathematical physics.... , France, "for his contributions to the development of stochastic Loewner evolution Stochastic Loewner evolution In probability theory, Schramm?Loewner evolution, also known as stochastic Loewner evolution or SLE, is a conformal group stochastic process.... , the geometry of two-dimensional Brownian motion Brownian motion Brownian motion is the seemingly random movement of particles suspended in a liquid or gas or the mathematical model used to describe such random movements, often called a particle theory.... , and conformal field theory Conformal field theory A conformal field theory is a quantum field theory that is invariant under conformal symmetry. Conformal field theory is often studied in two-dimensional geometry dimensions where there is an infinite-dimensional group of local conformal transformations, described by the holomorphic functions.... "

Landmarks

In 1954, Jean-Pierre Serre

Jean-Pierre Serre

Jean-Pierre Serre is a French mathematician in the fields of algebraic geometry, number theory and topology. He has received numerous awards and honors for his mathematical research and exposition, including the Fields Medal in 1954 and the Abel Prize in 2003....
became the youngest winner of the Fields Medal, at 27. He still retains this distinction.

In 1966, Alexander Grothendieck

Alexander Grothendieck

Alexander Grothendieck is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. He is most famous for his revolutionary advances in algebraic geometry, but he has also made major contributions to algebraic topology, number theory, category theory, Galois theory, descent theory, commutative homological algebra and functiona...
boycotted his own Fields Medal ceremony, held in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of the Russian Federation. It is also the largest European cities and metropolitan areas, with the Moscow metropolitan area ranking among the largest urban areas in the world....
, to protest Soviet military actions taking place in Eastern Europe.

In 1970, Sergei Petrovich Novikov

Sergei Petrovich Novikov

Sergei Petrovich Novikov is a Russian mathematician, noted for work in both algebraic topology and soliton theory....
, due to restrictions placed on him by the Soviet government, was unable to travel to the congress in Nice

Nice

Nice is a city in Southern France France located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 1,197,751 inhabitants in the 2007 estimate....
to receive his medal.

In 1978, Grigory Margulis

Grigory Margulis

Gregori Aleksandrovich Margulis is a Russian mathematician known for his far-reaching work on lattice s in Lie groups, and the introduction of methods from ergodic theory into diophantine approximation....
, due to restrictions placed on him by the Soviet government, was unable to travel to the congress in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the Capital and largest List of cities and towns in Finland of Finland. It is in the southern part of Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea....
to receive his medal. The award was accepted on his behalf by Jacques Tits

Jacques Tits

Jacques Tits is a France mathematician. He has written and cowritten a large number of papers on a number of subjects, principally group theory....
, who said in his address:

I cannot but express my deep disappointment — no doubt shared by many people here — in the absence of Margulis from this ceremony. In view of the symbolic meaning of this city of Helsinki, I had indeed grounds to hope that I would have a chance at last to meet a mathematician whom I know only through his work and for whom I have the greatest respect and admiration.

In 1982, the congress was due to be held in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the Capital and World's largest cities of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains....
but had to be rescheduled to the next year, due to political instability. The awards were announced at the ninth General Assembly of the IMU earlier in the year and awarded at the 1983 Warsaw congress.

In 1998, at the ICM, Andrew Wiles

Andrew Wiles

Sir Andrew John Wiles Order of the British Empire Fellow of the Royal Society is a United Kingdom mathematician and a professor at Princeton University, specialising in number theory....
was presented by the chair of the Fields Medal Committee, Yuri I. Manin

Yuri I. Manin

Yuri Ivanovitch Manin is a Russia/Germany mathematician, known for work in algebraic geometry and diophantine geometry, and many expository works ranging from mathematical logic to theoretical physics....
, with the first-ever IMU silver plaque in recognition of his proof of Fermat's Last Theorem

Fermat's Last Theorem

Fermat's Last Theorem is the name of the statement in number theory that states that:or, more precisely:In 1637 Pierre de Fermat wrote, in his copy of Claude Gaspard Bachet de M?ziriac's translation of the famous Arithmetica of Diophantus, "I have a truly marvellous proof of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to con...
. Don Zagier

Don Zagier

Don Bernhard Zagier is an United States mathematician whose main area of work is number theory. He is currently one of the directors of the Max-Planck-Institut f?r Mathematik in...
referred to the plaque as a "quantized Fields Medal". Accounts of this award frequently make reference that at the time of the award Wiles was over the age limit for the Fields medal. Although Wiles was slightly over the age limit in 1994, he was thought to be a favorite to win the medal; however, a gap (later resolved by Taylor and Wiles) in the proof was found in 1993.

In 2006, Grigori Perelman

Grigori Perelman

Grigori Yakovlevich Perelman , born 13 June 1966 in Saint Petersburg, Soviet Union , sometimes known as Grisha Perelman, is a Russian mathematician who has made landmark contributions to Riemannian geometry and geometric topology....
, credited with proving the Poincaré conjecture

Poincaré conjecture

In mathematics, the Poincar? conjecture is a theorem about the Characterization of the 3-sphere among 3-manifold. It began as a popular, important conjecture, but is now considered a theorem to the satisfaction of the awarders of the Fields medal....
, refused his Fields Medal and did not attend the congress.

The medal

The medal was designed by Canadian sculptor R. Tait McKenzie

R. Tait McKenzie

Robert Tait McKenzie was a Canadian-born United States sculptor, Scouter, scholar-athlete, surgeon, soldier, and physical educator. Born in Mississippi Mills, Lanark County, Ontario, he resided in Philadelphia and worked with Robert Baden-Powell, founder of Scouting....
.

On the obverse is Archimedes
Archimedes

Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematics, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity....
and a quote attributed to him which reads in Latin: "Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri" (Rise above oneself and grasp the world).

On the reverse is the inscription (in Latin):

Translation: "The mathematicians having congregated from the whole world awarded because of outstanding writings."

In the background, there is the representation of Archimedes' tomb

Archimedes

Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematics, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity....
, with the carving of his theorem on the Sphere and the Cylinder

Archimedes

Archimedes of Syracuse was a Greek mathematics, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity....
(a sphere and a circumscribed cylinder of the same height and diameter, the result of which he was most proud) behind a branch.

The rim bears the name of the prizewinner.

Fields Medal

Conditions of the award

Fields Medalists

Landmarks

The medal

See also

External links