Fields Medallists 2022

There’s something exciting happening next week – the announcement of the Fields Medallists for 2022.

This award, often referred to as the equivalent of the “Nobel Prize in mathematics” is awarded every four years to up to four mathematicians under the age of 40.

The age constraint is weird, right? It hearkens back to the originator of the award, a Canadian mathematician named John Charles Fields. He wanted the award to be “an encouragement for further achievement on the part of the recipients and a stimulus to renewed effort on the part of others”.

The Fields Medals have been awarded since 1936, and are traditionally awarded at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM), arguably the world’s largest and most prestigious mathematics conference. This year’s congress will be in Helsinki, Finland and includes from 6th-14th, with the announcement of the Fields Medallists the day before the conference starts.

There’s even a livestream for the award ceremony, happening at 10am local time on 5th July (that’s 5pm AEST).

There’s always whispers about who’s in the running, but we’ll have to wait to know for sure!