Horng-Tzer Yau Awarded 2026 ICBS Shiing-Shen Chern Medal in Mathematics

The International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS) has awarded the 2026 Shiing-Shen Chern Medal in Mathematics to Harvard Merton Professor of Mathematics Horng-Tzer Yau.  Yau was chosen for his groundbreaking contributions to mathematical physics and random matrix theory. This includes the development of local relaxation flow and the resolution of the Wigner-Dyson universality conjectures. Yau’s work established a transformative suite of tools that has revolutionized our understanding of quantum dynamics and Anderson localization. An ICBS  announcement described Yau’s legacy as “one of cognitive brilliance and an unswerving commitment to uncovering the hidden order within randomness. His work has not only pushed the envelope of mathematical physics, but has also galvanized a new echelon of investigators to prove the most labyrinthine questions of the quantum cosmos.”

The ICBS Medal was established to recognize scientists worldwide who have achieved groundbreaking and transformative advances in basic science. The medals span the three major disciplines of mathematics, physics, and engineering, and are named after nine distinguished scientists. In mathematics, those scientists are Emmy Noether, Shiing-Shen Chern, and Andrew Wiles.