math awards

Two Major Math Prizes Awarded to Wang Hong; Three Peking University Alumni Sweep the “Chinese Fields Medal”

Honghao Wang

— 5 min read
Two Major Math Prizes Awarded to Wang Hong; Three Peking University Alumni Sweep the “Chinese Fields Medal”

Two Major International Math Prizes Awarded on the Same Day

Both Featuring Hong Wang as a Winner

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Salem Prize 2025

The 2025 Salem Prize, one of the world’s most significant mathematics awards, was granted to Hong Wang and Vesselin Dimitrov.

  • Prestige: Often seen as a predictor for the Fields Medal.
  • Track record: Of the 56 recipients between 1968 and 2024, 10 later won the Fields Medal.
  • Example: Terence Tao won the Salem Prize in 2000, then the Fields Medal in 2006.
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After the announcement, Terence Tao publicly congratulated the winners.

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ICCM Mathematics Gold Award

On the same day, the ICCM Mathematics Gold Award at the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians went to:

  • Hong Wang
  • Yu Deng
  • Xinyi Yuan

All three are alumni of Peking University’s School of Mathematical Sciences.

  • About ICCM: Initiated by Shing-Tung Yau, held every 3 years, age cap of 45, and often nicknamed the “Chinese Fields Medal.”
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Hong Wang: From Switching Majors to Tenure at Top Institutes

Academic Path

  • Undergraduate: Started in PKU’s School of Earth and Space Sciences, switched to mathematics out of passion.
  • 2011 Graduation: Peking University.
  • Master’s: École Polytechnique (France), then Paris-Sud University.
  • Ph.D.: MIT (2019) under Larry Guth.
  • Postdoc: Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
  • Faculty:
  • UCLA (Assistant Professor, 2021)
  • Courant Institute, NYU (Associate Professor, 2023, Full Professor, 2024)
  • IHES (Permanent Professor) — first woman and 14th permanent mathematics professor in history.
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Key Achievements

  • Research Focus: Harmonic analysis, geometric measure theory.
  • Breakthroughs: Proof of the Kakeya set conjecture (with Joshua Zahl, Columbia University, 127 pages).
  • Contributions to the Fourier restriction conjecture, Falconer’s distance set conjecture.
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Public Engagement

  • Gave a 3-day lecture series at PKU in July — attendance overflowed.
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Impact: Her breakthrough in Kakeya conjecture has fueled speculation she could become a Fields Medalist.

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The Other Two ICCM Gold Award Winners

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Yu Deng

  • Education:
  • Shenzhen Senior High School
  • PKU Mathematics (2007 cohort) → transferred to MIT during junior year
  • Ph.D., Princeton University
  • Honors: IMO Gold Medal, Putnam Fellow, Sloan Research Fellowship, ICBS Prize, MCA Prize.
  • Research Areas: Nonlinear dispersive equations, wave equations, fluid dynamics, harmonic analysis, PDE probability theory, statistical physics.
  • Key Results:
  • Proved invariance of Gibbs measure for high-order Schrödinger equation in 2D.
  • Verified limiting equation validity for weak turbulence in Schrödinger equation.
  • Global existence for small initial data in 3D gravity–surface tension water waves.
  • Discovered instability in 2D Couette flow in supercritical function spaces.
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Breakthrough: Hilbert’s Sixth Problem

  • Origin: Proposed by David Hilbert in 1900 — aims to rigorously derive fluid mechanics equations from Newtonian mechanics via kinetic theory.
  • Challenge: Bridging particle → gas → fluid mechanics with rigorous math.
  • Solution (with Ma Xiao & Zaher Hani):
  • Hard-sphere model: elastic collisions of many particles.
  • Boltzmann–Grad limit: controlled microscopic behavior.
  • Extended Boltzmann equation to any time interval → longer mesoscopic timescale.
  • Fluid limit from Boltzmann equation → macroscopic Euler & Navier–Stokes–Fourier equations.

> “It was really a case of unintended success...” — Deng Yu on Zhihu

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Xinyi Yuan

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  • Born in Macheng, Hubei Province, IMO Gold Medalist (2000).
  • PKU undergraduate, Ph.D. at Columbia University under Zhang Shouwu.
  • Professor at Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research.
  • Research Areas: Arakelov geometry, algebraic dynamics, Diophantine geometry, Shimura varieties, special values of L-functions.
  • Achievements:
  • Proved all cases of geometric Bogomolov conjecture (2022).
  • Constructed admissible canonical bundles and proved uniform Bogomolov-type theorem for curves (2024).
  • First Chinese Clay Math Institute research fellow.
  • Science Exploration Award (2022).
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“Four Little Swans of Mathematics”

Yuan Xinyi, Zhang Wei, Yun Zhiwei, Zhu Xinwen — renowned for collaborative work and impactful papers, such as:

  • Extending modularity problem in Kudla’s conjecture.
  • Establishing Waldspurger formula analogue in arithmetic algebraic geometry (Annals of Mathematics).
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Zhang Shouwu on Yuan & Zhang Wei

> 袁新意是奥数冠军队成员，他的基本功没人可比……

> 张伟思想太活跃，有很多想法……他们性格完全不一样，但合作非常愉快……

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PKU Mathematics “Golden Generation”

A cohort including Liu Ruochuan, Yun Zhiwei, Song Shichang, Xiao Liang, Xu Chenyang, and more, who:

  • Swept major international math awards (2018–2020), including the Breakthrough Prize New Horizons in Mathematics, Ramanujan Prize, Sloan Research Fellowship, and AMS Centennial Prize.
  • Collaborated extensively across fields.

> “他们不是一个人，而是一批人……他们之间不是竞争者，而是合作者。” — Zhang Shouwu

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Common Threads in the 2025 ICCM Gold Award Trio

  • All alumni of PKU’s School of Mathematical Sciences (Hong Wang & Yu Deng both class of 2007).
  • All scheduled as 45-minute speakers at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians.
  • Yu Deng & Xinyi Yuan are IMO Gold Medalists.
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Quote from netizens:

> “这是华人数学的奇迹之年。”

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References

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