The 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians opened in Philadelphia, the United States, on the morning of July 23 local time. At the opening ceremony, the International Mathematical Union announced the recipients of the 2026 Fields Medals. Peking University alumni Hong Wang and Yu Deng, both members of the university's 2007 undergraduate cohort, received the awards, marking the first time that Chinese nationals have won two Fields Medals in the same award cycle.
Awarded every four years, the Fields Medal recognizes outstanding mathematical achievements and future promise among mathematicians under the age of 40, with no more than four recipients selected in each cycle. As one of the highest honors in the international mathematics community, the Fields Medal is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics.”
