Frenchman Hugo Duminil-Copin received the Fields Medal, on Tuesday July 5, for his work on probabilities applied to statistical physics.

Fields Medal :”A Nobel Prize in Mathematics”

This Tuesday morning, the fine flower of mathematics was gathered in Helsinki (Finland) to award, as every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians, the prestigious Fields medals, the equivalent of a “Nobel Prize in Mathematics“. And, for the thirteenth time, a French researcher has been rewarded. Hugo Duminil-Copin, 36, received one of the four medals for the 2022 vintage alongside Ukrainian Maryna Viazovska, American-Korean June Huh and Briton James Maynard. Frenchman Hugo Duminil-Copin, 36, devotes his work to the mathematical branch of statistical physics.

His work has opened up “several new directions of research”

Appointed professor at the age of 29, the probabilistic mathematician divides his time between the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, near Paris, and the University of Geneva. He was awarded for solving several “long-standing problems in the probabilistic theory of phase transitions”, which opened up “several new directions of research”, according to the jury. “Statistical physics is the study of the properties of complex systems. I try to understand how certain phase transitions take place, like the one with magnets”, explained the lucky winner, present at the ceremony like the other three. winners. His work has opened up “several new directions of research”, underlines the jury. For applications as varied as the management of urban flows, the anticipation of climatic phenomena, the spread of infectious diseases, MRI…