When Wang Hong stepped onto the podium at the International Congress of Mathematicians to receive the Fields Medal, a Cartier necklace caught the light.
She wore a black Alexander McQueen blazer and a rose gold Cartier ring. By the next morning, the necklace had sold out.
On social media, some users compiled a gallery of Wang’s outfits, praising her style and saying it “overturns my stereotype of mathematicians.”
Some commenters questioned whether a scholar should wear luxury goods at all, citing a stereotype of academics as low-profile. Yet others countered that the public should not judge scientists by the brand she wore, and that her academic achievements deserve more attention.
At 35, Wang had just become the third woman to win mathematics’ highest honor, and the first Chinese citizen to do so. It was not the image many expected of a math prodigy, and Wang does not seem to fit the mold.
Born in rural Guangxi, Wang skipped two grades and entered Peking University at 16, though she was not admitted as a math major. The department accepted only one student from her province, so she enrolled in earth sciences. According to mainland media, Wang spent her freshman year auditing advanced algebra, geometry and analysis, and successfully transferred to mathematics.
After completing her undergraduate studies, Wang pursued her master's degree at École Polytechnique, which is a top institution for mathematics. She completed her Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In February 2025, she and a collaborator published a 127-page proof of the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture, a problem that had eluded mathematicians for more than a century. The proof earned her the 2026 Fields Medal, the top honor in mathematics, awarded every four years to mathematicians under 40.
Wang is currently a permanent professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHES) and a professor at New York University.
Outside mathematics, she is a person of ordinary joys: anime, table tennis and fencing.
Asked how she felt about the award by mainland media, she offered no grand pronouncements.
“I’m honored,” she said. “I hope everyone will have the courage to do what they love.”
