Four mathematicians whose work covers areas like algebraic geometry and partial differential equations are the latest recipients of the Fields Medals, an award that is given out every four years to the brightest young researchers in the field.
This year’s recipients, announced on Thursday during the International Congress of Mathematics in Philadelphia, solved cutting-edge problems, including one that seemed like a simple puzzle of geometry and another that derived a fundamental equation that describes the motion of gases.
The medalists include two people who were born in China — Yu Deng, 37, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Hong Wang, 35, a professor at New York University and the Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies in France. This is the first time the cadre of Fields winners includes more than one Asian mathematician. Dr. Wang is also just the third woman to receive a Fields.
The other two medalists are Jacob Tsimerman, 38, a professor at the University of Toronto, and John Pardon, 37, a professor at Stony Brook University on Long Island.
The honor is accompanied by 15,000 Canadian dollars, or about $10,600, and a gold coin with the face of Archimedes, an ancient Greek mathematician.
The congress, which is the world’s largest and most prestigious gathering of mathematicians, comes as the field faces upheaval from artificial intelligence, which is quickly gaining skills that rival those of human mathematicians.
On Sunday, a mathematician reported that he and friends had disproved a conjecture that had first proposed in 1939. Using the Fable A.I. model from Anthropic, they found a counterexample while watching the World Cup final.
The counterexample was easily checked, leaving no doubt that the result was valid.
The congress will include talks about how A.I. and other tools like software that checks proofs are changing mathematics.
One of the Fields winners, Dr. Tsimerman, is even changing the focus of his research to studying the mathematical foundations of A.I. systems to better understand how they work and help avoid unintended consequences.
John Charles Fields, a Canadian mathematician, conceived of the medals in the 1920s, and the first medals were awarded in 1936. They are unusual among top academic honors in that they go to people who are still early in their careers, showcasing not only their accomplishments but also their promise.
To be eligible, a mathematician must be under the age of 40 on Jan. 1 of the year of the award. Because the medals are bestowed only once every four years, the Fields add prestige through rarity — which makes them somewhat akin to Olympic medals.
Another mathematics award, the Abel Prize, is modeled after the Nobel Prize and recognizes lifetime achievements.
The International Mathematical Union, which administers the Fields Medals, informed the recipients several months ago, but they were told to keep it secret until the official announcement on Thursday at the International Congress of Mathematicians, the world’s largest gathering of mathematicians.
The news leaked last week after hackers discovered the names, which had been poorly hidden on the website for the meeting.
“Some of my friends congratulated me, saying that they guessed maybe this is true and then they want to congratulate me,” Dr. Wang said. “But I didn’t give them any confirmation.”
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