Ukrainian mathematician becomes the second woman in the world to receive the prestigious Fields Medal

Ukrainian mathematician Maryna Vyazovska is one of four winners of the 2022 Fields Medals, the most prestigious mathematical award. She became the second woman to receive the medal in the 86-year history of the prize.
The Fields Medal is called the "Nobel Prize in Mathematics." It is awarded once every four years for achievements in mathematics to specialists under the age of 40.
Vyazovska received Fields Medal for the solution of the sphere packing problem in 8 dimensions. The problem has been known since the 16th century, Kepler and Newton pondered over it. Initially, this math problem arose with the need to find the most effective way of stacking cannonballs on ships of the British navy.

Later, the problem was included in the list of 23 unsolved mathematical problems, and its solution was discussed by many famous scientists.

Other Fields Medals winners are the Korean-American mathematician June Huh, scientists from France and United Kingdom Hugo Duminil-Copin, and James Maynard.

Maryna Vyazovska was born in Kyiv in 1984, studied at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and received a master's degree in 2007 in Kaiserslautern (Germany), and a doctorate in natural sciences at the University of Bonn in 2013.
Since 2017, she has been working at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), heading the Chair of Number Theory.