Wei Zhang
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Columbia University
2018 New Horizons in Mathematics Prize
For deep work on the global Gan-Gross-Prasad conjecture and the discovery of geometric interpretations for the higher derivatives of L-functions in the function field case.
Comments
Traveling the path to becoming a mathematician has been a thrilling experience. It is very likely that my early interest in mathematics originated from the fact that, in my childhood in a village far from the city, the only extracurricular book happened to be on mathematics, and since I did not have much else to do, I spent much of my time reading it and thinking about mathematics. Ever since, any time I began drifting away from my path, the simplicity and the internal harmony of mathematics always pulled me back.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank my family for their love and long-lasting support to my career. I thank many teachers in various stages of my career, my co-authors, and the friends I am lucky to have. From them I have constantly gotten inspiration.
