Ukrainian Maryna Viazovska became the second woman in history to win the Fields Medal

Ukrainian number theorist Maryna Viazovska received the most prestigious award for mathematicians.

A scientist from Kyiv was awarded for solving the problem of the highest density identical spheres packing in eight dimensions. Maryna Viazovska became the second woman in history to win the Fields Medal.

A graduate of Kyiv University, 37-year-old Maryna Viazovska received the Fields Medal in Helsinki. The International Mathematical Union announced the winners.

The most prestigious mathematical award is awarded every 4 years. Viazovska received it for solving the problem of the highest density identical spheres packing in eight dimensions.

“For proving that the E8-lattice packing provides the highest density packing of identical spheres in eight dimensions, and for further contributions to related extremal and interpolation problems in Fourier analysis,” the scientists said.

A mathematics professor at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study acknowledged Viazovska’s great contributions to science.

“Viazovska invents fresh and unexpected tools that allow her to jump over natural barriers that have held us back for years,” he commented.

Maryna Viazovska received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in Kyiv, and prepared for her master’s degree in Germany. She is currently working at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.

Fields Medal: which women received it?

The Fields Medal was established in 1936 and is awarded to mathematicians under 40 for outstanding achievements.

Viazovska is the second woman ever to be awarded the Fields Medal. The first was Iranian citizen Maryam Mirzakhani, who received the award in 2014.

The International Congress of Mathematicians, where the Fields Prize is awarded, was supposed to be held in St. Petersburg this year. Due to the full-scale war launched by Russia in Ukraine, the city was deprived of the right to host the event.

The other winners are Hugo Duminil-Copen from France, James Maynard from the UK, and Jun Huh from South Korea.

Earlier, in October 2017, Maryna Viazovska received the Indian SASTRA Ramanujan Prize in mathematics. The same year, the Ukrainian was awarded the prize named after the French mathematician Raphael Salem.

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Cover photo credits: Reuters