Two Chinese win world’s top Maths prize for solving century-old problems

Two Chinese academics have won the Fields Medal, the world’s top prize for mathematics for the first time, according to state media.

Chinese mathematicians Hong Wang and Yu Deng won alongside John Pardon from the US and Jacon Tsimerman from Canada. They each won 15,000 Canadian dollars ($10,500; £8,000).

Both won for solving problems that have baffled mathematicians for more than a century: Wang proved the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture, a century-old geometric puzzle regarding the minimum volume of space required to turn a needle in every direction, while Deng completed a rigorous derivation of the Boltzmann equation from Newtonian hard-sphere particle dynamics over long time scales. And 35-year-old Wang, who teaches in the US and France, is only the third woman to receive the honour.

The achievement has made waves on Chinese social media. The hashtags “Fields Medal” and “First Chinese mathematicians to win Fields Medals” generated millions of views across various social media platforms from Weibo to Rednote. Chinese media also extensively covered the two academics, with articles detailing everything from their educational backgrounds and personal interests to what their achievement means for the country. French President Macron is the only national leader publicly recorded as personally calling and congratulating Hong Wang.

“For the Chinese mathematics community, this is a dream we have been hoping to realise for decades,” said Shing-Tung Yau, the first ethnic Chinese Fields medallist.

This event is considered extremely significant to China; while there are previous mathematicians including Terrance Tao that are of Chinese descent, they are regarded as being raised in a western culture. Therefore, it is very important to the Chinese that two of their Chinese mathematicians have won this medal.