India-origin mathematician Akshay Venkatesh was awarded the prestigious Fields medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Rio de Janeiro.
The 36-year-old was chosen as one of the four winners of the prize, which is commonly referred to as the Nobel prize for mathematics.
The other three winners are,
Caucher Birkar (Iranian Kurdish origin),
Germany’s Peter Scholze,
Italy’s Alessio Figalli
The Fields medals are awarded every four years to the most promising mathematicians under the age of 40.
The prize was inaugurated in 1932 at the request of Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields, who ran the 1924 Mathematics Congress in Toronto.
Each winner receives a 15,000 Canadian-dollar cash prize. At least two, and preferably four people, are always honoured in the award ceremony.