Fields Medal

The Fields Medal is awarded every four years on the occasion of the International Congress of
Mathematicians to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the
promise of future achievement.
The Fields Medal Committee is chosen by the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical
Union and is normally chaired by the IMU President. It is asked to choose at least two, with a strong
preference for four, Fields Medallists, and to have regard in its choice to representing a diversity of
mathematical fields. A candidate's 40th birthday must not occur before January 1st of the year of the
Congress at which the Fields Medals are awarded.
The name of the Chair of the Committee is made public, but the names of other members of the
Committee remain anonymous until the award of the prize at the Congress. If a former student (Ph.D.
thesis only) of a Committee member is seriously considered, such a member shall not continue to
serve on the Committee for its final decision.

Detailed Information

List of Fields Medallists

Latest photos of Fields Medallists

Former Prize Committees

Call for Nominations for 2014 Awards

Prize Committee Chair for 2014 Awards

Nomination Guidelines

Physical Medals and Cash Values

Nomination
Nominations for this award have to be submitted to the Prize Committee Chair. IMU requests that
the Nomination Guidelines are observed.

History of the Fields Medal

At the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, a resolution was adopted that at
each ICM, two gold medals should be awarded to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement.
Professor J. C. Fields, a Canadian mathematician who was Secretary of the 1924 Congress, later
donated funds establishing the medals, which were named in his honor. In 1966 it was agreed that, in
light of the great expansion of mathematical research, up to four medals could be awarded at each
Congress.
The Fields Institute, Toronto, Canada, organizes the Fields Medal Symposium. The goals of the
program for the Fields Medal Symposium are to present the work of a Fields Medalist and its impact,
to explore the potential for future directions and areas of its influence, to provide inspiration to the
next generations of mathematicians and scientists, as well as to present the Medalist to a broader
public.