Graduate School of Mathematics

Hong Wang, a tenured professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) and New York University (NYU), was awarded the Fields Medal in July 2026 at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia. Hong Wang’s work in harmonic analysis and geometric measure theory led her, in collaboration with Joshua Zahl, to prove Kakeya’s conjecture in three dimensions—a problem that had remained open for over a century and had been tackled by the most seasoned analysts. It was this exceptional work that the Fields Committee highlighted when awarding the medal. Three other medals were also awarded to Yu Deng (University of Chicago), John Pardon (Stony Brook University), and Jacob Tsimerman (University of Toronto).

Hong Wang’s journey is a prime example of international openness. Originally from Guangxi Province in China, she was admitted to Peking University, one of the country’s most prestigious universities, where she is completing a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. She then chose to move to France, enrolling in the engineering program at École Polytechnique in 2010 and going on to earn a master’s degree in mathematics from Université Paris-Saclay in 2014. She then joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to pursue a PhD under the supervision of Larry Guth, already focusing on problems in harmonic analysis. After a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, she was hired first at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), then at NYU, before joining the IHES in 2025.

The Graduate School of Mathematics extends its warmest congratulations to our colleague Hong Wang, as well as to the three other award recipients, on this achievement.