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Medals and More
You would have heard about the Nobel Prize, the prize awarded for outstanding scientific research in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Economics and Peace but not Mathematics. This may be because in Alfred Nobel’s time, Mathematics was not considered as useful as the other fields of research.
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Proposal for the Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is considered as the most prestigious Mathematical prize. The official name of Fields medal is “International medals for outstanding discoveries in Mathematics”. This medal was first proposed at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto in the year 1924, where they decided to recognize outstanding Mathematical achievement by awarding medals.
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Professor John Charles Fields
Professor John Charles Fields, a Canadian mathematician, (secretary of the congress 1924) donated funds and established the medals which were named after him.
The first medal was presented in the year 1936 to Lars Ahlfors and Jesse Douglas. It was decided not to award these medals during the Second World War and as a result, the next medal was awarded only in the year 1950.
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The Medal
The medal is made of gold and shows the head of Archimedes with his quotation “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”)
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A medal of encouragement
John Fields wanted the prize to be an encouragement for young mathematicians rather than a recognition of a lifetime’s work. So the Fields Medal can only be given to a person who hasn’t reached the age of 40. This is the reason why Andrew Wiles, who proved Fermat’s Last Theorem, could not be awarded the Fields Medal in 1994.
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Young Mathematicians
In the year 2014, the Fields Medal along with a cash prize of 15,000 Canadian Dollars was awarded to Artur Avila, Manjul Bhargava (First Mathematican of Indian origin to receive the medal), Martin Hairer, Maryam Mirzakhani (First woman to receive the medal).
