Fields Medals, Other Top Math Prizes, Awarded - ScienceNOW

Fields Medals, Other Top Math Prizes, Awarded - ScienceNOW: "Ng�gave 'a brilliant proof' of another long-standing conjecture in number theory known as the 'Fundamental Lemma,' which lies at the heart of a broad unifying vision of mathematics that Robert Langlands, now at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, initiated in the late 1960s. The Langlands Program, as it's called, ties together virtually all aspects of modern mathematics; among other implications, its realization would make a mere footnote of the famous Fermat's Last Theorem. As its name suggests, the Fundamental Lemma is a technical point, but one that had stymied mathematicians for decades. Ng�s breakthrough makes other advances in the Langlands Program look possible."