Wang Hong and Deng Yu Win Fields Medals in Historic Breakthrough for Chinese Mathematics

On July 23 local time, the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) opened in Philadelphia, United States. At the opening ceremony, the International Mathematical Union officially announced the laureates of the 21st Fields Medal. Wang Hong and Deng Yu, both alumni of Peking University's undergraduate class of 2007, were each awarded a medal — marking the first time Chinese mathematicians have won two medals in a single edition of the Fields Medal.

Wang Hong is currently a permanent professor of mathematics at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) in France. In February 2025, Wang Hong, in collaboration with Joshua Zahl, resolved the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture — a problem that had puzzled the mathematical community for more than a century. Deng Yu is currently a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Chicago. Working with Ma Xiao and Zaher Hani, Deng Yu solved Hilbert's sixth problem in its narrow sense, for the first time rigorously deriving the complete logical chain from microscopic particle systems to the macroscopic Boltzmann equation.

The Fields Medal is awarded every four years, with no more than four laureates each time, to recognize scholars under the age of 40 who have made outstanding contributions to mathematics. It is one of the highest honors in the international mathematical community and is often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of mathematics."

Source: The Paper (澎湃新闻), reporter Cheng Ting. Original article: https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_33647071