China’s Historic Maths Prize Win
Two Chinese professors have received the world’s highest mathematics prize for the first time, according to official media.
Chinese mathematicians Hong Wang and Yu Deng won alongside John Pardon of the United States and Jacon Tsimerman of Canada. They each earned 15,000 Canadian dollars ($10,500; £8,000).
Both won for solving issues that had puzzled mathematicians for over a century. Wang, 35, who teaches in the United States and France, is just the third woman to win the award.
The Fields Medal, considered the Nobel Prize equivalent for mathematics, was awarded on Thursday in the United States, as human computations are increasingly being challenged by artificial intelligence.
The accomplishment has generated buzz on Chinese social media.
Chinese Maths Triumph Goes Viral
The hashtags “Fields Medal” and “First Chinese mathematicians to win Fields Medals” received millions of views on different social media sites, including Weibo and Rednote.
A Weibo user said, “I am proud of all Chinese people.”Another person said, “We are witnessing history.”
Chinese media extensively featured the two professors, including their educational histories, personal interests, and the significance of their success for the country.
For the Chinese mathematics community, this has been a long-held ambition,” said Shing-Tung Yau, the first ethnic Chinese Fields medalist.
Century Old Maths Problems Solved
Wang and her colleague Josh Zahl responded to a question raised by Japanese mathematician Soichi Kakeya in 1917.
What is the smallest area swept off by rotating a pencil completely around?
Wang and Zahl analyzed the problem with the assumption that the pencil was floating in three dimensions rather than on a flat surface. “They published their study last year.
“If this supposition intrigues people so much, it’s because this type of phenomena occurs naturally in issues from a wide range of areas,” Wang told AFP.
Deng, a 37-year-old mathematics professor at the University of Chicago, received recognition for his work on another century-old problem.
