The Fields Medal
Symposium
the Fields Institute from its earliest days. The entire Fields
community was deeply saddened by his premature death
in December 2014; Jim left a very generous bequest to the
Fields Institute which is an inspiration to those who share in
by Ed Bierstone
his vision of the Institute’s future.
The Fields Medal Symposium was conceived as a four-to-
five-day annual event with several ambitious goals: to bring
HE FIELDS MEDAL SYMPOSIUM had its origin in an
together researchers and help take the area of the honoured
unsuccessful bid by the Fields Institute as one of three
Fields medallist to the next level, to raise public awareness
finalists (together with Instituto Nacional de Matemática
of mathematics and the Fields Medal, and to inspire the next
Pura e Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro, and the Weierstrass
generation. The scientific goals parallel those of John Charles
Institute, Berlin) in a competition to house the permanent
Fields, who created the Medal not
administrative offices of the
as a distinguished career award,
International Mathematical Union.
but rather as a recognition of great
I presented the Fields bid to the
The Fields Institute does not award the
Fields
Medal
(that’s
up
to
the
International
breakthroughs, and to provide
General Assembly of the IMU,
Mathematical Union) but it does host the
the encouragement and freedom
meeting in Bangalore in August
winners each year during the Fields Medal
Symposium.
needed to take on even greater
2010, just before the International
challenges. The Symposium is
Congress of Mathematicians in
meant to include public lectures and activities for high-school
Hyderabad. A decision in favour of the Weierstrass Institute
and undergraduate students involving the medallist. The
was made by a majority vote. The IMU Executive was very
aim is to inspire scientific activity in Canada by raising the
appreciative of all three bids. It also provided an opportunity
awareness of Canada as the home of the Fields Medal.
to get the IMU to support the idea of the Fields Medal
The inaugural Fields Medal Symposium was held with
Symposium, which I felt would be scientifically of great
great success in October 2012, as one of the highlights
interest to the Fields Institute and the mathematical world.
of the Institute’s twentieth anniversary year, celebrated
IMU President Ingrid Daubechies and Secretary Martin
in 2012–13. Ngô Bau Châu was invited as the honoured
Grötschel were both enthusiastic about the idea. The IMU
endorsed the initiative as a way to raise public awareness of Medallist for the inaugural Symposium, both because of the
incredible impact of his achievements and also because of
the Fields Medal and to increase its monetary value.
The Fields Medal Symposium each year celebrates their Canadian
the discoveries of one of the recent Fields medallists. The connection. …
The first prototype bronze casting of the
The inaugural
Symposium includes an honorarium of $25,000 for the
Fields Medal is housed in a safe at the
honoured medallist, still very modest by the standards of Fields Medal
Fields Institute.
Symposium set
other top international awards.
To get the Fields Medal Symposium off the ground, I felt the tone for the
it was necessary to raise private sponsorship support for at four that have already followed, honouring the remaining
least the first eight years in order to enable the Symposium three 2010 Fields Medallists— Elon Lindenstrauss, Cédric
to get established and attract more stable long-term support. Villani, and Stanislav Smirnov— and the first of the 2014
We decided to recognize several levels of support. I was Medallists, Manjul Bhargava. Jim Stewart graciously hosted
thrilled by the enthusiasm for the idea of the Symposium, and a banquet at his home, Integral House, each year, which
we succeeded in raising sponsorship support for the first ten became a highlight of the Symposium until his death.
...
years, including a Gold Level Sponsorship by the Great West
I am pleased to say that planning for the sixth Fields Medal
Life, London Life, and Canada Life group, and a Silver Level
Sponsorship by renowned text-book author James Stewart. Symposium, on the work of Martin Hairer and its current and
Jim was a personal friend, as well as a friend and builder of potential impact, is well underway.
T
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The Fields Institute was tasked with revamping
the grade 12 math curriculum in partnership
with the Ontario Ministry of Education in 2006.
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The Fields Undergraduate Summer Research
Program has been running for 8 years. This
year, we have 33 students participating.