The Fields Institute Turns Twenty-Five 170725 Final book with covers | Page 132

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Ed Bierstone
Institute which is an inspiration to those who share in 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 together researchers and help take the area of the
honoured Fields Medallist to the next level, to raise public
awareness of mathematics and the Fields Medal, and to inspire
the next generation. The scientific goals parallel those of John
Charles Fields, who created the Medal not as a distinguished
career award, but rather as a recognition of great discoveries,
and to provide the encouragement and freedom needed to
take on even greater challenges. The Symposium is meant
to include public lectures and activities for high-school and
undergraduate students involving the medallist. The aim is to
inspire scientific activity in Canada by raising the awareness
of Canada as the home of the Fields Medal.
The inaugural Fields Medal Symposium was held with
great success in October 2012, as one of the highlights
of the Institute’s twentieth anniversary year, celebrated in
2012—13. Ngô Bau Châu was invited as the honoured
medallist for the inaugural Symposium, both because of
the incredible impact of his achievements and also because
of their Canadian connection. Ngô’s Fields Medal work
was a stunning advance in the Langlands program, named
after Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands, whose
far-reaching conjectures have inspired many of the deepest
advances in mathematics during the last fifty years. Ngô’s
proof of the Fundamental Lemma is crucial to the application
of some of the most important ideas in the field, such as the
trace formulas of Jim Arthur, who graciously served as the
lead scientific organizer of the first Fields Medal Symposium
and put together a wonderful program.