The Paris-Sud 11 University (Université Paris-Sud 11) Tuesday held a ceremony to honor its distinguished alumnus, Prof. Ngo Bao Chau who recently won the Fields Medal, the world’s most prestigious prize in mathematics.
Prof. Chau serves as a valuable link in education cooperation between France and Vietnam, university’s president Guy Couarraze told participants comprising top scientists, scholars and government officials at a special ceremony dedicated to honoring 38-year-old Chau at the Orsay campus.
Chau’s success brought about a science project between his university and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Couarraze elaborated.
He highlighted Chau’s passion for scientific research and his ardent love for motherland Vietnam.
French Minister of Education and Research Valeria Pecresse affirmed Chau’s Fields medal is an honor for both Vietnam and the Paris-Sud 11 University where Chau gained his PhD.
She expressed her joy at Chau’s decision to act as a bridge between Asia, Europe and America, adding he is a professor of three countries in three continents – Vietnam, France and the US.
Chau, who holds both Vietnamese and French passports, is currently a professor at the University of Chicago.
Born in Hanoi, Chau was awarded the 2010 Fields Medal with three others for proving once and for all the Robert Langlands’ Fundamental Lemma at the 26th International Congress of Mathematicians in India last August.
During high school, he won two gold medals in the 29th and 30th International Mathematical Olympiad, went on to do research in France and in 2004 was awarded the Clay Research Award and in 2007, the Sophie Germain prize and the Oberwolfach prize.
Chau’s solution to the long-time mathematical puzzle earned a spot in Time Magazine which named his achievement as among the 10 most outstanding scientific discoveries of 2009.
