There has been an increasing buzz on social media and academia as the general public is introduced to Akshay Venkatesh, a renowned Indian-Australian mathematician, who is one of four winners of mathematics’ prestigious Fields medal, known as the Nobel prize for math, ( although some people consider the Abel Prize to be a better award)
So before we explore who he his let us find out what he has won.
What is the Fields medal
The Fields Medals are commonly regarded as mathematics’ closest analog to the Nobel Prize (which does not exist in mathematics), and are awarded every four years by the International Mathematical Union to one or more outstanding researchers. “Fields Medals” are more properly known by their official name, “International medals for outstanding discoveries in mathematics.”
The Fields Medal is the highest scientific award for mathematicians, and is presented every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians, together with a prize of Canadian dollars. The first Fields Medal was awarded in 1936 at the World Congress in Oslo. The Fields Medal is made of gold, and shows the head of Archimedes (287-212 BC) together with a quotation attributed to him
: “Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri” (“Rise above oneself and grasp the world”).
The reverse side bears the inscription:
“Congregati ex toto orbe mathematici ob scripta insignia tribuere” (“the mathematicians assembled here from all over the world pay tribute for outstanding work”).
New Delhi-born Venkatesh, 36, who is a professor at at Stanford University, has won the Fields Medal for his profound contributions to an exceptionally broad range of subjects in mathematics.
Venkatesh was a born genius but he put in tremendous effort as well. His parents moved with him to Perth , Australia when he was 2 years old.
He won the International Physics and Mathematics won medals in the two subjects at ages 11 and 12, respectively.
He finished high school when he was 13 and went to the University of Western Australia, graduating with first class honours in mathematics in 1997, at the age of 16.
In 2002, he earned his PhD at the age of 20. Since then, he has gone from holding a post-doctoral position at MIT to becoming a Clay Research Fellow and, now a professor at Stanford University.
Venkatesh has worked at the highest level in number theory, arithmetic geometry, topology, automorphic forms and ergodic theory.
However distinguished and intelligible his work may sound. It stands as a testament to the spirit of hard work and dedication and simple , unadulterated love towards the language that transcends this realm mathematics. Passion truly reigns supreme