Historic achievement by Chinese mathematicians: They solved century-old problems and won the Fields Medal

In a historic achievement for Chinese mathematics, Hong Wang and Yu Deng have become the first Chinese citizens to be awarded the Fields Medal, widely considered the most prestigious honor in the field. They shared the award with American mathematician John Pardon and Canadian mathematician Jacob Tsimerman.

Each recipient was awarded a prize of 15,000 Canadian dollars. The four mathematicians were recognized for their groundbreaking work on problems that have challenged the mathematical community for over a century. The awards ceremony took place in the United States on Thursday.

Hong Wang, 35, who conducts her academic research in the U.S. and France, is only the third woman to receive the Fields Medal. Working in the field of harmonic analysis, Wang, along with mathematician Joshua Zahl, developed a solution to a problem posed in 1917 by Japanese mathematician Soichi Kakeya. Known as the "Kakeya problem," it investigates the smallest area required to rotate a pen or needle completely.

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This is a dream that the Chinese mathematical community has been trying to realize for decades.

Yu Deng, a mathematics professor at the University of Chicago, was honored for his research on "Hilbert's Sixth Problem," presented by German mathematician David Hilbert in 1900. This problem aims to mathematically calculate how a system behaves as a whole based on the movements of its individual parts. Deng's work focused on the movement of gases, leading to significant findings about the mathematical relationship between the microscopic behavior of particles and the macroscopic properties of gases.

The success of Wang and Deng has generated immense excitement in China, with related hashtags trending on social media platforms like Weibo and Rednote, reaching millions of views. Social media users hailed their achievement as a "pride for all Chinese people" and a "historic development." Chinese media outlets have provided extensive coverage, detailing the mathematicians' educational journeys and personal interests. Shing-Tung Yau, the first Chinese-born mathematician to win the Fields Medal, commented that this achievement represents a dream the Chinese mathematical community has pursued for decades.

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It is a great honor for me to be mentioned alongside mathematicians I have admired for many years.