Fields Medal in mathematics. 필즈 상. Ukrainian mathematician, Maryna Viazovska, has become only the second woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal.

Maryna Viazovska, Ukrainian Fields winner 'changed forever' by war

Elias Huuhtanen with Daniel Lawler in Paris

Tue, 5 July 2022 at 8:39 am·3-min read

 

Ukrainian maths professor Maryna Viazovska, who on Tuesday won the top mathematics prize, the Fields Medal, said her life "changed forever" when Russia invaded her home country.

 

The 37-year-old's parents and sisters were living in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, when the war began in February.

 

"I could not think of anything else, including mathematics," she in a video as she received the prize at a ceremony in Helsinki.

 

Her sisters -- along with her young nephew and niece -- were evacuated from Kyiv and are now staying with her in Switzerland, where she works at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.

 

Viazovska and three other mathematicians received the Fields Medal, dubbed the Nobel prize in maths, in Helsinki after the ceremony was moved from Saint Petersburg to the Finnish capital in response to Moscow's war.

 

She is only the second woman to receive the award, which is awarded to mathematicians under 40, since it was created in 1936.

 

The other female laureate, Iran's Maryam Mirzakhani, died of breast cancer in 2017 just three years after winning the prize.

 

- 'Terrible war' -

Viazovska was born in 1984 in Kyiv, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union.

 

In Ukraine, she studied at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, before earning a masters degree at Germany's University of Kaiserslautern and a PhD at the University of Bonn.

 

Since 2018, she has been chair of number theory at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. Her husband Daniil Evtushinsky is a physicist at the Swiss institute.

 

In the first days of the war, teaching maths to students "helped me to forget about this fear and pain inside myself", she said.

 

At the ceremony she paid tribute to Yulia Zdanovska, a 21-year-old mathematician who was killed by a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in March.

 

"Yulia was a person filled with light and her big dream was teaching mathematics to kids in Ukraine," Viazovska said.

 

"When young people die you think, 'What is the point of my work as a teacher if young, talented people are just wasted in this terrible war?'"

 

- 13 years to find 'magic formula' -

She won the Fields Medal for her work on sphere packing, which has plagued mathematicians for hundreds of years.

 

It fundamentally involves how to put spheres in a container in the most compact way.

 

According to legend, it was first a question of how many cannonballs could be packed into a ship, Viazovska said.

 

After hundreds of years, mathematicians had solved the problem in three dimensions, which involved stacking them in a pyramid, like oranges at a supermarket.

 

But expanding the theory out into other dimensions -- possible in mathematics -- had proved elusive.

 

Viazovska however worked on the problem from 2003 to 2016 and found a "magic formula" that solved the problem in dimensions eight and 24, she said.

 

"Maryna pulled off something really miraculous here," mathematician Henry Cohn of MIT told the ceremony. "As soon as this paper became available, everyone was astonished by it."

 

Philippe Moustrou of France's Toulouse University told AFP that it was "not as if she found something that was just waiting to be discovered -- she found the extra ingredient".

 

But Viazovska's thoughts remain with the war -- and the hopeful return of a peace she once took for granted.

 

"The thing I like about Kyiv the most are the green parks, the quiet places and the ancient churches. I understand that now there will be marks of war there and this is a scary thought," she said.

 

"But Kyiv is one of the eternal cities. One day soon, I hope to return."

 

bur-pcl-dl/gil

 

Ukrainian professor wins prestigious Fields Medal in mathematics

By Emily McGarvey

BBC News

 

Maryna Viazovska receives Fields Medals for Mathematics from International Mathematical Union (IMU) President Carlos E. Kenig during the award ceremony at the International Congress of Mathematicians 2022

IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS

Ukrainian mathematician, Maryna Viazovska, has become only the second woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal.

 

Often regarded as the Nobel Prize for mathematics, she won for her work on a 400-year-old puzzle about sphere packing.

 

The 37-year-old professor received the award alongside three other winners at a ceremony in Helsinki.

 

"I feel sad that I'm only the second woman," she said.

 

"But why is that? I don't know. I hope it will change in the future."

 

The other Fields medal winners were France's Hugo Duminil-Copin of the University of Geneva, Britain's James Maynard of Oxford University, and June Huh of Princeton in the United States.

 

The medal is awarded every four years to outstanding mathematicians under the age of 40.

 

After winning the award, Professor Viazovsk paid tribute to those suffering in her war-torn country, saying "my life changed forever" when Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

 

Her parents and sisters were living in the capital, Kyiv, when Russian troops entered the country.

 

"When the war started I could not think about anything else, including mathematics," she said in a video shown at the ceremony.

 

Her family were evacuated from Kyiv and are now staying with her in Switzerland, where she works at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.

 

"Right now Ukrainians are really paying the highest price for our beliefs and our freedom," she added.

 

The only previous female recipient of the Fields medal in its 86 year history was Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, in 2014.

 

UK refugee wins 'biggest maths prize'

First female winner for maths medal

The International Congress of Mathematicians, where the prize is awarded, was originally due to be held in Russia's second city Saint Petersburg and opened by President Vladimir Putin.

 

Earlier in the year, hundreds of mathematicians signed an open letter protesting the choice of the host city, and after Russia began its invasion, the event was moved to the Finnish capital.

 

"The ongoing barbaric war that Russia still continues to wage against Ukraine clearly shows that no other alternative was feasible," the president of the International Mathematical Union, Carlos E. Kenig, said.

 

During the ceremony, Prof Viazovska paid tribute to Yulia Zdanovska, a young mathematician who studied under the same teachers she had in Kyiv, who was killed by a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in March.

 

"Yulia was a person filled with light, and her big dream was teaching mathematics to kids in Ukraine," she said.

 

"When someone like her dies, it's like the future dies."

 

‘한국 수학자 첫 필즈상’ 허준이 교수가 푼 인류 난제는
등록 :2022-07-05 16:52

이근영 기자 

국제수학연맹 4년마다 수여하는 ‘수학 노벨상’
미국에서 출생한 뒤 한국서 초교~석사 마쳐
대수기하학으로 조합론 분야서 다수 난제 해결
허준이 미국 프린스턴대 교수 겸 한국 고등과학원(KIAS) 수학부 석학교수(오른쪽)가 5일(현지시각) 핀란드 헬싱키 알토대학교에서 국제수학연맹(IMU)이 수여하는 필즈상을 수상하고 있다. 한국 수학자가 ‘수학 노벨상’인 필즈상을 받은 것은 이번이 처음이다. 이전까지 한국계나 한국인이 이 상을 받은 적은 없었다. 헬싱키/AP 연합뉴스

허준이(39) 한국 고등과학원 석학교수가 한국계 최초로 ‘수학 노벨상’인 필즈상을 받았다. 지금까지 한국인이나 한국계가 이 상을 받은 적은 없다.

대한수학회는 “올해 세계수학자대회에서 한국 수학자 최초로 허준이 한국과학기술원(카이스트) 부설 고등과학원 석학교수 겸 미국 프린스턴대 교수가 수학자 최고의 영예인 필즈상을 수상했다”고 5일 밝혔다.

필즈상은 국제수학연맹이 4년마다 여는 세계수학자대회에서 만 40살 미만의 수학자에게 수여하는 수학계 최고의 상으로 흔히 수학계의 노벨상으로 알려져 있다. 노벨상은 해마다 시상하며 공동 수상이 많지만, 필즈상은 4년마다 40살 미만 수학자 최대 4명까지만 시상해 노벨상보다 받기 더 어려운 상으로 평가된다. 허 교수는 1983년 6월생이다. 필즈상은 캐나다 수학자 존 찰스 필즈의 제안으로 1936년 제정돼 올해까지 모두 64명이 수상했다. 올해 세계수학자대회는 6~14일 비대면 대회로 열리고, 필즈상 시상식은 핀란드 헬싱키에서 5일 열렸다. 수상자에게는 각각 1만5천 캐나다달러(약 1500만원)의 상금이 주어진다.

허준이 한국 고등과학원 교수가 5일 핀란드 헬싱키에서 열린 국제수학연맹의 필즈상 시상식에서 상을 받고 있다. 유튜브 화면 갈무리

허준이 한국 고등과학원 교수가 5일 핀란드 헬싱키에서 열린 국제수학연맹의 필즈상 시상식에서 상을 받고 있다. 유튜브 화면 갈무리

세계수학자대회 126년 역사에서 한국 수학자로서 필즈상 첫 수상의 영광을 안은 허준이 교수는 미국에서 태어난 뒤 한국으로 건너와 초등학교부터 대학원 석사 과정까지 모두 한국에서 교육을 받았다. 서울대 수리과학부 및 물리천문학부 복수전공, 서울대 수학 석사를 마쳤다. 미국 미시간대에서 수학 박사 학위를 받은 뒤, 현재 미국 프린스턴대 교수와 한국 고등과학원 석학교수로 활동하고 있다.

허 교수는 대수기하학을 이용해 조합론 분야에서 다수의 난제를 해결하고, 대수기하학의 새 지평을 연 공로를 인정받아 필즈상을 받았다. 대수기하학은 방정식을 통해 도형이나 공간의 성질을 연구하는 학문이고, 조합론의 기초적인 개념은 중·고교 교과과정에 나오는 ‘경우의 수’다. 그는 일찍이 조합 대수기하학 분야에서 특히 대표적 난제로 알려진 리드 추측 등 모두 11개의 난제를 해결했다. 리드 추측은 영국 수학자 로널드 리드가 1968년 제시한 문제다.

허 교수는 “저에게 수학은 저 자신의 편견과 한계를 이해해가는 과정이고, 인간이라는 종이 어떤 방식으로 생각하고 또 얼마나 깊게 생각할 수 있는지 궁금해하는 일이다. 스스로 즐거워서 하는 일에 의미 있는 상을 받아 깊은 감사함을 느낀다”고 수상 소감을 밝혔다.

 

허 교수 석사 학위 과정 지도교수였던 김영훈 서울대 교수(수리과학부)는 “허 교수는 석사 과정 중 1970년 필즈상 수상자인 히로나카 헤이스케 교수의 강의를 듣고 본인의 연구주제를 정했고, 이것이 이후 업적으로 이어졌다. 허 교수는 서울대와 한국 연구시스템을 발판으로 성장한 수학자다”라고 했다. 금종해 대한수학회 회장(고등과학원 교수)은 “허 교수의 수상은 올해 2월1일 국제수학연맹이 한국 수학의 국가등급을 최고 등급인 5그룹으로 상향한 것에 이은 한국 수학의 쾌거”라고 말했다.

 

이근영 기자 kylee@hani.co.kr