Fields Medal

Not to be confused with Field's metal.

Fields Medal
The obverse of the Fields Medal
Awarded forOutstanding contributions in mathematics attributed to young scientists
Presented byInternational Mathematical Union
Reward(s)CA$15,000
First awarded1936; 88 years ago (1936)
Last awarded2022 (2022)
Websitemathunion.org/imu-awards/fields-medal Edit this at Wikidata
The reverse of the medal

The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award honours the Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields.[1]

The Fields Medal is regarded as one of the highest honors a mathematician can receive, and has been described as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics,[2][3][4] although there are several major differences, including frequency of award, number of awards, age limits, monetary value, and award criteria.[5] According to the annual Academic Excellence Survey by ARWU, the Fields Medal is consistently regarded as the top award in the field of mathematics worldwide,[6] and in another reputation survey conducted by IREG in 2013–14, the Fields Medal came closely after the Abel Prize as the second most prestigious international award in mathematics.[7][8]

The prize includes a monetary award which, since 2006, has been CA$15,000.[9][10] Fields was instrumental in establishing the award, designing the medal himself, and funding the monetary component, though he died before it was established and his plan was overseen by John Lighton Synge.[1]

The medal was first awarded in 1936 to Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors and American mathematician Jesse Douglas, and it has been awarded every four years since 1950. Its purpose is to give recognition and support to younger mathematical researchers who have made major contributions. In 2014, the Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani became the first female Fields Medalist.[11][12][13] In total, 64 people have been awarded the Fields Medal.

The most recent group of Fields Medalists received their awards on 5 July 2022 in an online event which was live-streamed from Helsinki, Finland. It was originally meant to be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, but was moved following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

  1. ^ a b "About Us: The Fields Medal". The Fields Institute, University of Toronto. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2010.
  2. ^ Ball, Philip (2014). "Iranian is first woman to nab highest prize in maths". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2014.15686. S2CID 180573813. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  3. ^ "Fields Medal". www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  4. ^ "Fields Medal". The University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  5. ^ Klainerman, Sergiu (2015). "Is the Fields Medal the Nobel Prize of Mathematics?" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 62 (4): 327. ISSN 0002-9920. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Top Award, ShanghaiRanking Academic Excellence Survey 2017 | Shanghai Ranking – 2017". Shanghairanking.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  7. ^ IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence. IREG List of International Academic Awards (PDF). Brussels: IREG Observatory on Academic Ranking and Excellence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  8. ^ Zheng, Juntao; Liu, Niancai (2015). "Mapping of important international academic awards". Scientometrics. 104 (3): 763–791. doi:10.1007/s11192-015-1613-7. S2CID 25088286.
  9. ^ "Maths genius turns down top prize". BBC. 22 August 2006. Archived from the original on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2006.
  10. ^ "Israeli wins 'Nobel' of Mathematics" Archived 23 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine, The Jerusalem Post
  11. ^ "President Rouhani Congratulates Iranian Woman for Winning Math Nobel Prize". Fars News Agency. 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  12. ^ "IMU Prizes 2014". International Mathematical Union. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  13. ^ Dehghan, Saeed Kamali Dehghan (16 July 2017). "Maryam Mirzakhani: Iranian newspapers break hijab taboo in tributes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 18 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.