Two Peking University alumni awarded Fields Medals, 14 PKUers speak at the 2026 ICM

BEIJING, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) opened in Philadelphia, the U.S., on the morning of July 23 (local time). Peking University (PKU) alumni Wang Hong and Deng Yu were awarded the 2026 Fields Medals, one of the most prestigious honors in mathematics, marking a historic milestone for Peking University.

The award decision was officially announced by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), which presents the medal every four years to mathematicians under the age of 40, recognizing the influence of their existing work and their promise of future achievement. Wang and Deng are two of the four mathematicians honored.

The awards are historic for Peking University, as it marks the first time two alumni from the same cohort—2007—have won the medal in the same year.

Beyond the awards, PKU set another record in the number of scholars invited to speak at the conference—10 alumni and 4 faculty members.

Wang's recognition also carries special significance. She becomes only the third woman in history to receive the Fields Medal, as well as the first Chinese woman to be awarded the honor.

Wang is best known for her work with Joshua Zahl resolving the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture. The longstanding problem, situated at the intersection of analysis and geometry, had challenged mathematicians for decades and has far-reaching connections across several areas of mathematics.

She is currently a tenured professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES).

Deng entered PKU's School of Mathematical Sciences in 2007 before continuing his undergraduate studies at MIT. He later received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and is now a professor at the University of Chicago.

Working with Ma Xiao and Zaher Hani, Deng made a major breakthrough in Hilbert's sixth problem. Their research established a rigorous mathematical pathway connecting microscopic particle dynamics with macroscopic kinetic and fluid equations, addressing a challenge first proposed by legendary mathematician David Hilbert more than a century ago.

Wang and Deng followed different routes into mathematics, but their journeys began in the same PKU cohort. Their achievements highlight the growing international presence of PKU mathematicians.

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