The Fields Medal
An Internet Tour -- by J. Cantlin
Updated: 3/11/01

There is no category for mathematics for Nobel prizes, so the Fields Medal is considered to be the closest thing to it. This short Internet tour will take you to some of the key sites associated with this medal. It is intended to be taken in order (of course you don't have to). So use your "back" feature of your browser to return to the next "tour stop" whenever you finish exploring at the previous web site. Let me know if there are some web sites I should add to the tour. E-mail John Cantlin at mathknowhow@hotmail.com.

  1. International Mathematical Union
    http://elib.zib.de/IMU/
    The IMU is the organization responsible for putting on the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) once every four years. A highlight of each ICM is the awarding of the Fields Medals. First we will visit the home page of the IMU in Germany.
    Alternate US Mirror Site

    2.
  2. List of IMU Members
    http://elib.zib.de/IMU/members/continents.html
    There are about 60 countries in the IMU, here is a list sorted by continent. The purpose of the IMU is simply to promote international cooperation in mathematics.

    3.
  3. List of ICM's
    http://elib.zib.de/IMU/prev-icms.html
    The primary function of the IMU is to host the International Congress of Mathematicians. A "congress" in its most general sense is simply "the act or action of coming together and meeting" from the Latin "congredi - to come together" (Merriam Webster). Here is a list of all of the past ICM's. The ICM has been held twice in the US.

    4.
  4. Fields Medal: Design and Past Winners
    http://elib.zib.de/IMU/medals/index.html
    This page shows the design of the medal, and provides a list of past winners.

    5.
  5. Another View of the Medal
    http://www.math.toronto.edu/gif/medal.gif
    From the University of Toronto

    6.
  6. John Charles Fields (1863-1932)
    http://www.math.toronto.edu/fields.html
    Why its called the "Fields Medal." John Charles Fields was a Canadian mathematician and one-time secretary of the ICM.
    Click here or on site picture for full size view.

    7.
  7. Hilberts 23 Problems
    http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/prime/articles/hilbert_prob/index.asp
    Presented at the 1900 Paris ICM. List is from the Platonic Realms Interactive Mathematics Encyclopedia web site.

    8.
  8. Most Recent Congress - Berlin 1998 http://elib.zib.de/ICM98/
    Next Congress - Beijing 2002 http://www.cms.org.cn/icm01.htm
    9.

End of Tour. Thanks for visiting!