2002 FIELDS MEDALS AND NEVANLINNA PRIZE
WERE AWARDED

( August 20, 2002 )

The 2002 Fields Medals and the Nevanlinna Prize were awarded on Tuesday, 20 August at 15:00 p.m. (local time) at the 2002 International Congress of Mathematics (ICM) in Beijing, China. The Fields Medal is the world's highest award for achievement in mathematics. The Nevanlinnna Prize is among the most prestigious international awards for achievement in theoretical computer science. Both are presented by the International Mathematical Union.

 

The 2002 Fields Medalists are :

LAURENT LAFFORGUE, Institut des Hanter Etudes Scientifiques, Bures-sur-Yvette, France. He is recognized for making a major advance in the Langlands Program, thereby providing new connections between number theory and analysis.
 
VLADIMIR VOEVODSKY

Institute for Advance Study, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A. .He is recognized for developing new cohomology theories for algebraic varieties, thereby providing new insights into number theory and algebraic geometry.

 

The 2002 Nevanlinna Prize Winner is:

MADHU SUDAN

Massachusetts Institute of Thechnology, Cambridge, Masschusetts, U.S.A. . He is recognized for contribution to probabilistically checkable proofs, to non-approximability of optimization problems, and to error-correcting codes.

The Fields Medals and Nevanlinna Prize were awarded during the ICM Opening Ceremonies, which took place at 15:00 on 20 August in the Great Hall of the People in Tianan men Square in Beijing.

The ICM, held every four years, is the most important international conference for mathematicians. The awarding of the Fields Medals and Nevanlinna Prize is one of the most eagerly awaited events for the world mathematical community.

 

"The achievements of Fields Medalists and Nevanlinna Prize winner show great depth and originality," said Jacob Palis, President of the International Mathematical Union. "The choice of problems, their methods, and their results are quite different from one another, and this diversity exemplifies the vitality of the whole of the mathematical sciences. The world mathematical community applauds their outstanding work."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Last modified: Aug. 22, 2002

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