A decades-old problem falls
Mathematician Hong Wang of New York University has won the 2026 Fields Medal, one of the most prestigious prizes in mathematics. The International Mathematical Union announced the award Monday at the opening of the International Congress of Mathematicians, a gathering that drew researchers from around the world.
Wang was honored for solving a decades-old geometry problem connected to the Kakeya conjecture, which asks how small a set of points can be while still containing a line segment in every direction. Her work settled key cases in higher dimensions and opened new connections between harmonic analysis and number theory.
Third woman to win the prize
The Fields Medal has been awarded every four years since 1936 to mathematicians under the age of 40. Wang is only the third woman to receive it, following Maryam Mirzakhani in 2014 and Maryna Viazovska in 2022.
Wang, 37, grew up in China and studied at Peking University before earning her doctorate at Princeton. She joined the faculty at NYU's Courant Institute, where she works on problems at the boundary of analysis, geometry and combinatorics.
What comes next
In a statement, Wang said she hoped the award would inspire more young women to pursue mathematics. Colleagues described her as a patient and generous mentor who is known for tackling problems others avoid.
The union also named three other medalists for 2026, recognizing work in number theory, probability and dynamical systems. The full list of winners was published on the congress website. The next congress is scheduled for 2030, when a new group of medalists will be chosen.
Wang’s appointment at the Courant Institute places her in one of the oldest and most respected mathematics departments in the United States. Her work has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, and she has published in several of the field’s top journals.