17 August 2014

Fields Medal for the year 2014 awarded

The Fields Medal for the year 2014 was awarded on 13 August 2014 in Seoul, South Korea. The award recognized contributions of four medallists:
• Artur Avila of the Institute of Mathematics of Jussieu, for his contributions in Dynamical Systems Theory
• Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University, for developing new approach in the geometry of numbers
• Martin Hairer of the University of Warwick, for his contributions to the Theory of Stochastic Partial Differential Equations
• Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian born mathematician, awarded for her contributions to the field of geometry particularly in studying the symmetry of curved surfaces such as spheres.

The Fields Medal was first awarded in 1936 to Finnish mathematician Lars Ahlfors and American mathematician Jesse Douglas.
In 2010, the winners of the Fields Medal were:
• Elon Lindenstrauss of Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Princeton University
• Ngô Bảo Châu of Paris-Sud 11 University and Institute for Advanced Study
• Stanislav Smirnov of University of Geneva
• Cédric Villani of École Normale Supérieure de Lyon and Institut Henri Poincaré
Origin of the Fields Medal

The Field Medals were first anticipated at the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, when a resolution was adopted that at each International Congress of Mathematicians, two gold medals should be awarded to distinguished mathematicians.

Professor John Charles Fields, a Canadian mathematician who was Secretary of the 1924 Toronto Congress, donated funds to establish the medals. It is after his contribution that medal was named in his honor.

In 1966, the great expansion of mathematical research led to an agreement that up to four medals could be awarded at each Congress meeting.

The Fields medal is officially known as International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics. It is considered as the greatest honor for a mathematician, it is described as the Nobel Prize of Mathematics.

Medal and Cash Value
• The Fields Medal is made of gold stamped with the head of Archimedes (287-212 BC) showing a quotation attributed to him Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri (Rise above oneself and grasp the world).
• The other side of the medal bears the inscription Congregati ex toto orbe mathematici ob scripta insignia tribuere (The mathematicians assembled here from all over the world pay tribute for outstanding work).
• The medal is given with a cash prize of 15000 Canadian dollars.

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