University of Cambridge professor Caucher Birkar receives the Fields Medal in Rio de Janeiro on Aug 1. (Tania Rego/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)The Fields Medal is the most prestigious award in mathematics, a recognition so esteemed that it is often compared to the Nobel Prize. The recognition is huge, but the award itself is quite small: The medal is only 2½ inches wide. Brazilian mathematician Artur Avila won the award in 2014, the first time that Brazil had taken home the prize. “War-ridden Kurdistan was an unlikely place for a kid to develop an interest in mathematics,” he said at the conference in Brazil.

Source: Washington Post August 02, 2018 17:04 UTC