Azerbaijan National Academy of Science

The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years (on even years).

The prize comes with a monetary award, which since 2006 has been $15,000 CAD. The colloquial name is in honor of Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields. Fields was instrumental in establishing the award, designing the medal itself, and funding the monetary component.

The Fields Medal is, with the Abel Prize, viewed as the highest honor a mathematician can receive. The Fields Medal and the Abel Prize have often been described as the mathematician's "Nobel Prize".

The medal was first awarded in 1936 at the X Congress in Oslo. Since 1966 (Congress in Moscow), the maximum number of medals has been increased to four per congress. In 2002 (the congress in Beijing) two medals were awarded. The youngest winner of the Fields Prize was the French mathematician Jean-Pierre Serre.

The next Fields Medal is planned to be presented to the winners in August of this year.

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