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Fields Medal

The Fields Medal is awarded every four years on the occasion of the International Congress of Mathematicians to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement.

The Fields Medal Committee is chosen by the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union and is normally chaired by the IMU President. It is asked to choose at least two, with a strong preference for four, Fields Medalists, and to have regard in its choice to representing a diversity of mathematical fields. A candidate's 40th birthday must not occur before January 1st of the year of the Congress at which the Fields Medals are awarded.

The medals and cash prizes are funded by a trust established by J.C.Fields
at the University of Toronto, which has been supplemented periodically, but is still significantly
underfunded.  The discrepancy in 2018 was made up by the University of Toronto and
the Fields Institute.

The name of the Chair of the Committee is made public, but the names of other members of the Committee remain anonymous until the award of the prize at the Congress.

Statutes for the Fields Medal

The details of the Award, the nomination, and the selection can be found in the Statutes for the Award.

Physical Medal

Material - 14KT Gold
Diameter - 63.5 mm
Weight - 169 g
Finish - Sandblasted, Engraved, Gold Plated & Lacquered
Unit Price - approx. 5,500 CAD

Fields Medal Front
Fields Medal Back

Obverse

The head represents Archimedes facing right. 

In the field is the word ΑΡXIMHΔΟΥΣ in Greek capitals and the artist's monogram and date RTM, MCNXXXIII.

The inscription reads: TRANSIRE SUUM PECTUS MUNDOQUE POTIRI.

Reverse

The inscription on the tablet reads:

CONGREGATI
EX TOTO ORBE
MATHEMATICI
OB SCRIPTA INSIGNIA
TRIBUERE

It means: "The mathematicians having congregated from the whole world awarded (this medal) because of outstanding writings". The verb form "tribuere" (the first "e" is a long vowel) is a short form of "tribuerunt". In the background there is a representation of Archimedes' sphere being inscribed in a cylinder.

Eberhard Knobloch, August 5, 1998

Former Prize Committees

2022

  • Carlos E. Kenig (chair)
    Artur Avila
    Camillo de Lellis
    Michael Hopkins
    Antti Kupiainen
    Rahul Pandharipande
    Alfio Quarteroni
    Vera Serganova
    Laure St Raymond
    Richard Taylor
    Weiping Zhang
    Tamar Ziegler

2018

  • Shigefumi Mori (chair)
    Hélène Esnault
    Eduard Feireisl
    Alice Guionnet
    Nigel Hitchin
    John Morgan
    Hee Oh
    Andrei Okounkov
    M.S. Raghunathan
    Kenneth A. Ribet
    Terence Tao

2014

  • Ingrid Daubechies (chair)
    Luigi Ambrosio
    David Eisenbud
    Kenji Fukaya
    Étienne Ghys
    Benedict Gross
    Frances Kirwan
    János Kollár
    Maxim Kontsevich
    Michael Struwe
    Ofer Zeitouni
    Günter M. Ziegler

2010

  • László Lovász (chair)
    Corrado De Concini
    Yakov Eliashberg
    Peter Hall
    Timothy Gowers
    Ngaiming Mok
    Stefan Müller
    Peter Sarnak
    Karen Uhlenbeck

2006

  • John M Ball (chair)
    Enrico Arbarello
    Jeff Cheeger
    Donald Dawson
    Gerhard Huisken
    Curtis McMullen
    Alexey Parshin
    Tom Spencer
    Michèle Vergne

2002

  • Yakov Sinai (chair)
    James Arthur
    Spencer Bloch
    Jean Bourgain
    Helmut Hofer
    Yasutaka Ihara
    H. Blaine Lawson
    Sergei Novikov
    George Papanicolaou
    Efim Zelmanov

1998

  • Yuri I. Manin (chair)
    John Ball
    John Coates
    J. J. Duistermaat
    Michael Freedman
    Jürg Fröhlich
    Robert MacPherson
    Kyoji Saito
    Steve Smale

1994

  • Mumford (chair)
    Caffarelli
    Kashiwara
    B. Mazur
    Schrivjer
    Sullivan
    Tits
    Varadhan

1990

  • Faddeev (chair)
    Atiyah
    Bismut
    Bombieri
    Fefferman
    Iwasawa
    Lax
    Shafarevich

1986

  • Moser (chair)
    Deligne
    Glimm
    Hörmander
    Ito
    Milnor
    Novikov
    Seshadri

1982

  • Carleson (chair)
    Araki
    Malliavin
    Marchuk
    Mumford
    Nirenberg
    Schintzel
    C.T.C. Wall

1978

  • Montgomery (chair)
    Carleson
    Eichler
    I.M. James
    Moser
    Prohorov
    Szökefalvi-Nagy
    Tits

1974

  • Chandrasekharan (chair)
    Adams
    Kodaira
    Malgrange
    Mostowski
    Pontryagin
    Tate
    Zygmund

1970

  • H. Cartan (chair)
    Doob
    Hirzebruch
    Hörmander
    Iyanaga
    Milnor
    Shafarevich
    Turán

1966

  • de Rham (chair)
    Davenport
    Deuring
    Feller
    Lavrentiev
    Serre
    Spencer
    Thom

1962

  • Nevanlinna (chair)
    P.S. Aleksandrov
    Artin
    Chern
    Chevalley
    Whitney
    Yosida

1958

  • Hopf (chair)
    Chandrasekharan
    Friedrichs
    P. Hall
    Kolmogorov
    L. Schwartz
    Siegel
    Zariski

1954

  • Weyl (chair)
    Bompiani
    Bureau
    H. Cartan
    Ostrowski
    Pleijel
    Szegö
    Titchmarsh

1950

  • Bohr (chair)
    Ahlfors
    Borsuk
    Fréchet
    Hodge
    Kolmogorov
    Kosambi
    Morse

1936

  • Severi (chair)
    Carathéodory
    G.D. Birkhoff
    E. Cartan
    Takagi

History of the Fields Medal

At the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, a resolution was adopted that at each ICM, two gold medals should be awarded to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement. Professor J. C. Fields, a Canadian mathematician who was Secretary of the 1924 Congress, later donated funds establishing the medals, which were named in his honor. In 1966 it was agreed that, in light of the great expansion of mathematical research, up to four medals could be awarded at each Congress.

The Fields Institute, Toronto, Canada, organizes the Fields Medal Symposium. The goals of the program for the Fields Medal Symposium are to present the work of a Fields Medalist and its impact, to explore the potential for future directions and areas of its influence, to provide inspiration to the next generations of mathematicians and scientists, as well as to present the Medalist to a broader public.