Fields Medalists

It was exciting to see the recent announcement of Fields medalists for 2014. Awarded every four years, these medals are the highest honour for mathematicians under the age of 40. This year’s recipients included a number of firsts. Manjul Bhargava, from Princeton University, becomes the first mathematician of Indian origin to win a Fields medal. Artur Avila, from Paris Diderot University, becomes the first Latin American to win a medal and Maryam Mirzakhani, of Stanford University, becomes both the first woman and the first Iranian to win a medal. The fourth recipient was Martin Hairer, an Austrian mathematician now working at Warwick University. Maryam Mirzakhani won IMO Gold medals in 1994 and 1995, with the second being a perfect score. Artur Avila was also an IMO Gold medalist in 1995.