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The E-Sylum: Volume 25, Number 28, July 10, 2022, Article 24

2022 FIELDS MEDAL WINNERS

Nobel Prize medals may be the most famous medals in the world, but they aren't the only important medals for achievment at the highest level. We've written before about the Fritz Medal for engineering and the Fields Medal for mathematics. This week, four new Fields medals were awarded. First, some background. -Editor

The Fields medal obverse The Fields Medal is often referred to as the mathematical equivalent of the Nobel Prize, but it is granted only every four years and is given, by tradition, to mathematicians under the age of 40, rather than to more senior scholars.

The Fields Medal originated from surplus funds raised by John Charles Fields (1863–1932), a professor of mathematics at the University of Toronto, as organizer and president of the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto. The Committee of the International Congress had $2,700 left after printing the conference proceedings and voted to set aside $2,500 for the establishment of two medals to be awarded at later congresses.

Following an endowment from Fields's estate, the proposed awards—contrary to his explicit request—became known as the Fields Medals. The first two Fields Medals were awarded in 1936. An anonymous donation allowed the number of prize medals to increase starting in 1966. Medalists also receive a small (currently $1,500) cash award.

To read the complete article, see:
Fields Medal mathematics award (https://www.britannica.com/science/Fields-Medal)

The medal was designed by Canadian sculptor R. Tait McKenzie.

QUICK QUIZ: The Carnegie Hero Medal shows Andrew Carnegie on the obverse; the John Fritz Medal shows John Fritz; so who's the guy on the Fields medal? And have any of the Fields medals come out on the numismatic market? -Editor

To read some fascinating stories about the 2022 winners, see:
In Times of Scarcity, War and Peace, a Ukrainian Finds the Magic in Math (https://www.quantamagazine.org/ukrainian-mathematician-maryna-viazovska-wins-fields-medal-20220705/)
He Dropped Out to Become a Poet. Now He's Won a Fields Medal. (https://www.quantamagazine.org/june-huh-high-school-dropout-wins-the-fields-medal-20220705/)
For His Sporting Approach to Math, a Fields Medal (https://www.quantamagazine.org/hugo-duminil-copin-wins-the-fields-medal-20220705/)
A Solver of the Hardest Easy Problems About Prime Numbers (https://www.quantamagazine.org/number-theorist-james-maynard-wins-the-fields-medal-20220705/)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
RUSSIAN WINNER SNUBS FIELDS MEDAL (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v09n35a10.html)
QUIZ ANSWER: FIELDS MEDAL DESIGNER R. TAIT MCKENZIE (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n35a21.html)
STANFORD PROFESSOR AWARDED FIELDS MEDAL (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v17n34a16.html)

E-Sylum Leidman ad03 coin



Wayne Homren, Editor

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The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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