Fields Medals and Nevanlinna Prize: 2002

John Charles Fields, a Canadian mathematician who was Secretary of the ICM (International Congress of Mathematicans) held at Toronto in 1924, mooted in 1931 the idea of two medals to be awarded at successive ICMs (held once in four years) for outstanding achievements in mathematics, intended at the same time to be an encouragement for further achievement. When he passed away in 1932, in his will he had left his estate for the prizes. Fields apparently felt strongly about the lack of Nobel Prize in mathematics, which he tried to make up for with his limited means, and the prizes, though modest in monetary value, have held great prestige and emotional appeal to the mathematical community, similar to the Nobel Prizes. Two to four medals are now awarded at each ICM, to mathematicians under the age of 40 (keeping in view the twin objectives). At the latest ICM held in Beijing in August this year, the medals were awarded to Laurent Lafforgue and Vladimir Voevodsky. The IMU (International Mathematical Union) which operates the Fields Medal awards, and also organizes the ICMs, established in 1981, a medal and prize similar to the Fields Medal, for outstanding achievements in mathematical aspects of information science. The prize is named after the Finnish mathematician Rolf Nevanlinna who was President of the IMU, and is awarded along with the Fields Medals. This time the award went to Madhu Sudan. We present here glimpses of the work of the three awardees: the notes are prepared by Rajan on Lafforgue, Nitsure on Voevodsky, and Radhakrishnan on Madhu Sudan.