China has produced its first Fields Medal winners holding Chinese citizenship in the 90-year history of the prize, often called the "Nobel Prize of mathematics." The achievement is drawing greater attention because two of the four total winners are Chinese, and both are classmates from Peking University.
According to China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, the International Mathematical Union (IMU) officially announced four Fields Medal winners at the opening ceremony of the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), held in Philadelphia, the United States, on the 23rd. The winners included University of Chicago professor Deng Yu, 37, and New York University professor Wang Hong, 35.
Chinese-American mathematicians Shing-Tung Yau and Terence Tao previously received the Fields Medal in 1982 and 2006, respectively, but at the time held U.S. citizenship and dual U.S.-Australian citizenship, respectively. This marks the first time in the prize's 90-year history that a scholar who completed undergraduate studies in mainland China and retained Chinese citizenship has won.
Professor Deng was recognized for his work in partial differential equations and fluid dynamics, through which he resolved part of "Hilbert's sixth problem," posed by German mathematician David Hilbert in 1900. Professor Wang is the third woman to receive the Fields Medal in its history, honored for proving the "three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture," which had remained unsolved for more than a century, together with Canadian mathematician Joshua Zahl last year.
The two winners draw particular attention as classmates who both entered Peking University's mathematics department in 2007. Professor Wang has an unusual background, having entered Peking University's Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the age of 16 before transferring to the mathematics department. Peking University professor Tian Gang said, "At the time, she was not a standout student even within the mathematics department, but through her love of mathematical analysis and long-sustained effort, she achieved a breakthrough." Professor Deng is said to have shown outstanding talent in both baduk and mathematics from a young age, and was so renowned during his university years that he was called the "god of mathematics."
The Fields Medal is the most prestigious award in mathematics, presented every four years to honor outstanding achievements by young mathematicians under the age of 40. Each recipient receives prize money of 15,000 Canadian dollars (about 15.7 million won) and a 14-karat gold medal engraved with the face of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes. Between two and four winners are selected each time, and this is also the first time that two or more Asian mathematicians have been among the winners in the same round. In South Korea, Princeton University professor June Huh became the first Korean recipient of the award in 2022.
