Maryna Viazovska Wins Fields Medal, Only the Second Woman to Achieve this Feat

Maryna Viozovska was presented with the Fields Medal this year for solving Sphere-Packing Problem in eight dimensions.

Maryna Viozovska became only the second woman to be presented with the Fields Medal, a prestigious award given once every four years since 1950 to "recognize outstanding mathematical achievement." Viazovska – who hails from Ukraine – was joined by Hugo Duminil-Copin (France), James Maynard (UK), and June Huh (USA). The Fields Medal is awarded by the International Mathematical Union to up to four mathematicians once every four years, all younger than 40 years.

Maryna Viozovska was awarded with the Fields Medal this year for cracking Sphere-Packing Problem in eight dimensions, developed in 2016. The sphere-packing problem requires one to prove that the most number of spheres of the same size in a given volume can be stacked in a pyramid-like structure – like seen in grocery stores around the world. This arrangement is called face-centered cubic packing and gives an upper bound on the packing density.

“I feel sad that I’m only the second woman, but why is that? I don’t know. I hope it will change in the future,” said Dr. Viazovska.