Hong Wang becomes 1st Chinese woman Fields Medalist at ICM
Hong Wang just became the first Chinese woman ever to win the Fields Medal, the biggest prize in mathematics, at this year's International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia.
The award, which is only given to mathematicians under 40, also went to Yu Deng (China), John Pardon (U.S.), and Jacob Tsimerman (Canada) this year.
Wang and Zahl crack Kakeya conjecture
Wang, together with Joshua Zahl, cracked a century-old mathematics puzzle called the Kakeya conjecture in three dimensions, making a big impact on fields like harmonic analysis and geometric measure theory.
This is only the third time in 90 years that a woman has won the Fields Medal.
Both Wang and Deng started out at Peking University before continuing their studies abroad, a double win for China that is sparking both pride and conversations about top talent leaving the country.