The University of Hong Kong continues to attract the best and brightest minds from around the world, as Professor Ngô Bảo Châu, recipient of the 2010 Fields Medal – mathematics’ highest honour for researchers under 40 – will be joining HKU as Chair Professor in the Department of Mathematics this coming June.
Professor Ngô earned global recognition for his groundbreaking proof of the fundamental lemma in the Langlands Programme, a monumental achievement that solved a three-decade-old mathematical challenge and was named one of TIME magazine’s Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of 2009.
“Professor Ngô’s joining HKU marks another defining moment in our mission to pursue excellence in global scholarship, cementing our role as a global nexus for visionary research and exceptional talent,” said Professor Xiang Zhang, President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU. “We look forward to the catalysis this will bring to new intellectual frontiers, while reinforcing Hong Kong’s standing as a premier hub for world-class scholarship, where East and West converge to shape the future of knowledge.”
The Langlands Programme, proposed by mathematician Robert Langlands in 1967, stands as one of mathematics’ most ambitious theoretical frameworks, creating vital connections between number theory and group theory. For three decades, its fundamental lemma remained unproven until Professor Ngô’s ingenious solution in 2009, which not only validated years of mathematical work but also opened new pathways within this profound theoretical structure.
Professor Ngô will be joining HKU from the US, after 15 years at the University of Chicago. “HKU’s global connectivity and interdisciplinary culture create the ideal environment for transformative research,” said Professor Ngô. “I am excited to collaborate with the University’s brightest minds – not only to advance mathematics but to shape its future as a discipline that will redefine scientific discovery for decades to come.”
In 2010, Professor Ngô made history by becoming the first Vietnamese mathematician awarded the Fields Medal. Along with the Abel Prize, these awards are widely regarded as the discipline’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. His transformative contributions to number theory and representation theory have had far-reaching implications across mathematical physics.
His distinguished honours include the Clay Research Award (2004), Oberwolfach Prize (2007), Sophie Germain Prize (2007), and election as a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2012) and a Foreign Member of the French Academy of Sciences (2016).
The arrival of Professor Ngô significantly strengthens HKU’s position as a global leader in fundamental research, where world-class scholars unite to drive transformative interdisciplinary breakthroughs and ignite a spirit of intellectual daring that transcends academic boundaries.
