Why is there a Fields Medal under 40?

The under-40 rule is based on Fields’s desire that “while it was in recognition of work already done, it was at the same time intended to be an encouragement for further achievement on the part of the recipients and a stimulus to renewed effort on the part of others.”

Why is the Fields Medal awarded?

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.

What is the maximum age someone can be when winning the Fields Medal in mathematics?

The details of the limit have not been consistent throughout the medal’s history, but currently, Fields medalists must be younger than 40 on January 1 of the year they receive their award. The Nobel Prize has no age requirement, other than the fact that the recipient must be living.

Why does the Fields Medal have an age limit?

However, the age requirement was actually put in place to ensure greater equity in the awarding of the Fields Medal: in the 1960’s age became a proxy for the award’s original goal of identifying previously under-recognized mathematicians rather than piling yet more awards on mathematicians who were already well-known.

What is the Fields Medal made of?

gold
The Fields Medal is made of gold, and shows the head of Archimedes (287-212 BC) together with a quotation attributed to him: “Transire suum pectus mundoque potiri” (“Rise above oneself and grasp the world”).

What is the age limit for the Fields Medal?

The Fields Medal also has an age limit: a recipient must be under age 40 on 1 January of the year in which the medal is awarded. This is similar to restrictions applicable to the Clark Medal in economics. The under-40 rule is based on Fields’s desire that “while it was in recognition of work already done,…

What is the difference between the Fields Medal and Nobel Prize?

Unlike the Nobel Prize, the Fields Medal is only awarded every four years. The Fields Medal also has an age limit: a recipient must be under age 40 on 1 January of the year in which the medal is awarded.

How many Fields Medalists are there?

It is asked to choose at least two, with a strong preference for four, Fields Medalists, 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.

What does Fields Medal stand for?

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…