Chinese Mathematicians Wang Hong and Deng Yu Win 2026 Fields Medal

Chinese Mathematicians Make History at 2026 Fields Medal Ceremony

The Fields Medal is awarded every four years to recognize outstanding mathematical achievements by researchers under the age of 40. This year, the International Mathematical Union limited the recipients to four mathematicians, with John Pardon and Jacob Tsimerman joining Wang and Deng as laureates.

The dual win for Wang and Deng is historically significant, as it makes China the fifth country—following the United States, France, Britain, and Russia—to produce two Fields Medalists in a single ceremony. It is also the first time two mathematicians who completed their undergraduate training in mainland China have shared the prize in the same year, according to msn.com.

Academic Backgrounds and Paths to Success

Both Wang and Deng share a common academic origin, having been admitted to Peking University’s mathematics program in 2007. Their paths to the award involved extensive international research and high-level academic appointments.

Wang Hong, born in 1991 in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, began her studies at Peking University’s School of Earth and Space Sciences before transferring to the mathematics program. After earning her bachelor’s degree in 2011, she continued her education in France, obtaining an engineering degree from École Polytechnique and a master’s degree in mathematics from Paris-Sud University. She later earned her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) under the supervision of Larry Guth. Following a postdoctoral tenure at the Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey and a faculty position at the University of California, Los Angeles, she became a tenured professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) in France in 2025.

Deng Yu, born in 1989 in Shenzhen, demonstrated early mathematical prowess by winning a gold medal at the International Mathematical Olympiad in 2006. After attending Peking University, he transferred to MIT, where he received his bachelor’s degree in 2011. He completed his PhD at Princeton University in 2015 under Alexandru Ionescu.

Groundbreaking Mathematical Contributions

The committee awarded the medals based on the mathematicians’ recent, transformative work in their respective fields.

Wang Hong gained international recognition for her work on the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture, a problem that had challenged the mathematical community for over a century. In February 2025, she and collaborator Joshua Zahl published a 127-page paper providing a fundamental limit on the space a needle can occupy while rotating in three dimensions, a feat described by Rice University mathematician Nets Katz as a breakthrough of the century, according to Guancha. Wang is the third woman in the 90-year history of the Fields Medal to receive the award.

Deng Yu was recognized for his contributions to mathematical physics, specifically his work on a narrow version of Hilbert’s sixth problem. Working with collaborators, Deng developed a rigorous proof demonstrating how the microscopic movement of particles—acting like bouncing billiard balls—necessarily leads to the differential equations used to describe macroscopic fluid motion. This result, noted by nature.com, provides a mathematical bridge between the microscopic world of particles and the macroscopic world of fluid dynamics.

Context of the Achievement

While other ethnic Chinese mathematicians have previously won the Fields Medal—notably Shing-Tung Yau in 1982 and Terence Tao in 2006—neither held Chinese citizenship at the time of their awards. The 2026 ceremony marks the first time that Chinese nationals have been recognized with the honor.

The awards were presented at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, where the president of the International Mathematical Union formally bestowed the medals. As noted by scientificamerican.com, the event featured a performance by the West Philadelphia Orchestra and highlighted the wide range of current mathematical research, from knot theory to the dynamics of physical systems.