Key Takeaways
- Yu Deng, John Pardon, Hong Wang and Jacob Tsimerman are the 2026 Fields medal winners.
- Wang solved the Kakeya conjecture, a problem that baffled mathematicians for five decades.
- Deng’s work unified macroscopic behaviour with microscopic models in physics.
Four young mathematicians have been awarded the prestigious Fields Medal for their groundbreaking contributions to mathematics and its applications. The winners of the 2026 Fields medal are Yu Deng from the University of Chicago, John Pardon from Stony Brook University, Hong Wang from New York University, and Jacob Tsimerman from the University of Toronto.
Among them, Hong Wang stands out as the third woman to receive this accolade in nearly nine decades. Her work on the Kakeya conjecture, a problem that had stumped mathematicians for five decades, has been celebrated as a significant breakthrough. Wang and her colleagues discovered a special relationship between the thickness of tubes and the total volume needed when needles rotate in midair, solving a long-standing puzzle.
Yu Deng's research has significantly advanced our understanding of how macroscopic behaviour arises from microscopic scales. Working with the Boltzmann equation, which describes the macroscopic behaviour of gases since the late 1800s, Deng and his collaborators derived it from a detailed model of tiny particles. This unified two fundamentally different scales of physics, resolving a question posed by mathematician David Hilbert in 1900.
John Pardon's contributions to topology and geometry have also been recognized. He tackled decades-old problems, including the analysis of knots wrapped around toruses or doughnut-like shapes with central holes. His work on the distortion of knots and proving the MNOP conjecture has added new dimensions to these fields.
Pardon expressed his thoughts in a pre-recorded video: 'It's hard to know at the time how much significance a given solution will have.' This humility reflects the profound impact of their research, which continues to shape our understanding of complex mathematical concepts and physical phenomena.
The Fields medal is awarded every four years to mathematicians under 40. It is one of the most prestigious awards in mathematics, often compared to the Nobel Prize for its prestige and recognition. The winners are chosen by a committee of international mathematicians who evaluate their contributions based on originality, depth, and impact.
This year's recipients have demonstrated exceptional talent and innovation, pushing the boundaries of mathematical knowledge and its applications in physics and geometry. Their work continues to inspire future generations of mathematicians and scientists.
It's hard to know at the time how much significance a given solution will have.
John Pardon, Stony Brook University
