The Fields Medal in Mathematics is a highly prestigious award given to selected young mathematicians who have contributed to the field of Mathematics with either an individual involvement in a specific project or a collective body of work that has made a significant impact on the discipline.
The Fields Medal, second only to the Nobel prize in its standing, was intended to encompass a wide range of mathematical sub disciplines in order to identify and recognize truly exceptional mathematicians who have been so devoted to mathematical advancement that their accomplishments have been recorded before their 40th birthdays.
In fact, the major limitation recipients of the medal have faced is the strict regulation imposed by the administrating International Mathematical Union, which has since the inception of the award in 1936, convened every four years to select two to four recipients. The regulation states that the nominee must have not yet reached their fortieth birthday by the first of January of the year the award is bestowed upon them.
Although the concept for the Fields Medal was conceived in 1924 by John Charles Fields, a Canadian mathematics professor, the proposal was not accepted until almost ten years later at the 1932 International Congress of Mathematicians held in Zurich, Switzerland. Fortunately, however, the Fields Medal has henceforth become an international symbol of acknowledgement for excellence in the field of mathematics.
