Living Fully in the Math World Means Threading the Needle
Focus, commitment, and insight resulted in a “once in a century” proof. Hong Wang is now the third woman to win a Fields Medal.
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Fields and Abacus Medals 2026
Every four years, the math world’s preeminent awards are given to the finest minds of a generation. The young winners — all under 40 on the first day of the year — have reshaped mathematics and theoretical computer science. Here are their stories.
Sometimes Being First Means Seeing the End Before Anyone Else
Determination and effort propelled Jacob Tsimerman to the top of the math world. But now that he’s won a Fields Medal, he worries that the field is in jeopardy.
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The Quietest Mathematician Was Always Worth Listening To
John Pardon sees connections between different areas of math that others don’t. For that, he’s now been awarded a Fields Medal.
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Amid Life’s Chaos, a Meticulous Mathematician Finds Stability
Before he won a Fields Medal for his pioneering work balancing randomness and order, Yu Deng first had to achieve equilibrium in his own life.
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A Master of the Traveling Salesperson Problem Finds His Own Path
Shayan Oveis Gharan has won the Abacus Medal for applying tools from across mathematics to computer science.
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