(Xinhua/Li Rui)
Chinese mathematicians Deng Yu and Wang Hong received the Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians 2026, which opened Thursday in Philadelphia. This is the first time that Chinese mathematicians have received this prestigious distinction.
At the opening ceremony of the congress, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, the International Mathematical Union announced that Deng Yu was recognized for his work on partial differential equations (PDEs), while Wang Hong was recognized for his work in harmonic analysis and geometric measurement theory.
“It is a great honor to see my name mentioned alongside all these great mathematicians that I have always admired,” Deng Yu said at a press conference after the ceremony, adding: “This is a very important recognition for myself, for my work, for my work with my collaborators, for the field of PDE as well as for the probability that I represent.”
Wang Hong works in the fields of harmonic analysis and geometric measurement theory. “A common problem in both fields is the Kakeya conjecture…I really feel like I’m combining methods from both fields,” she explained.
“I am delighted for Dr. Deng and Dr. Wang, and I warmly congratulate them,” Fields Medal winner Efim Zelmanov told Xinhua.
“The majority of their training took place in China. Their remarkable achievement is a powerful testimony to China’s fundamental and rapidly growing role in the world of mathematics,” he added.
Deng Yu first studied at Peking University before transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), then obtained his doctorate at Princeton University. Wang Hong obtained her bachelor’s degree from Peking University, her master’s degree from Paris-Saclay University and her doctorate from MIT.
Deng Yu is a professor at the University of Chicago, while Wang Hong is a professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques (IHES) in France and the Courant Institute at New York University.
The Fields Medal was awarded this year to four winners. The other two are John Pardon, an American mathematician at Stony Brook University, and Jacob Tsimerman, a Canadian mathematician at the University of Toronto.
The Fields Medal is one of the most prestigious international awards in mathematics, awarded every four years to two to four young researchers under the age of 40 in recognition of their outstanding mathematical work and their potential for future success.
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