Math Prizes: Honors for connecting number theory, geometry, and algebra

The Fields Medal, the world’s highest honor for mathematical research, has gone to two mathematicians who forged new links between different branches of mathematics. The recipients–announced this week at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Beijing–are Laurent Lafforgue of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in Bures-sur-Yvette, France, and Vladimir Voevodsky of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.