IAS Scholars Sweep ICBS Medals and Receive Frontiers of Science Awards

All three recipients of the 2026 International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS) Medal in Mathematics have links to the Institute’s School of Mathematics. The medals “recognize scientists worldwide who have achieved groundbreaking and transformative advances in basic science.”

The first awardee, Claire Voisin, Distinguished Visiting Professor (2014–15), is described as “a major figure in algebraic geometry whose achievements have reshaped the landscape of complex varieties, their topology and their algebraic cycles.” Frequent IAS scholar Horng-Tzer Yau was recognized as “a transformative architect of mathematical physics whose major breakthroughs have radically redefined the rigorous understanding of complex random systems.” Finally, Shou-Wu Zhang, Member (1991–92), was lauded as “an unparalleled architect of arithmetic geometry whose seminal breakthroughs have fundamentally transmuted the landscape of modern number theory.”

Another IAS scholar, representing the School of Natural Sciences, was recognized with an ICBS Medal in the Physics category. Xiao-Gang Wen, Member (1990–91) and IBM Einstein Fellow (2022–23), was praised as “a visionary of modern science,” with particular reference to his work in quantum condensed matter physics. The citation continued: “through a series of epoch-making breakthroughs, [Xiao-Gang Wen] has profoundly reshaped our understanding of the forms of matter, their organizing principles, and the very nature of symmetry.”

In addition to the ICBS Medals, 2026 Frontiers of Science Awards were presented to IAS Faculty, past and present. From the School of Mathematics, this included Jean Bourgain, Professor (1994–2018); Professor Elon Lindenstrauss; and Professor Emeritus Helmut Hofer. IAS Faculty from the School of Natural Sciences who were recognized in the Physics category included Professors Emeriti Edward Witten and Scott Tremaine, and Carl P. Feinberg Professor Juan Maldacena. Ahmed Almheiri, Member (2017–2022, 2025–26); Raghu Mahajan, Member (2019–22) and Visitor (2017–19); and Ying Zhao, Member (2018–21), were also recognized for a 2020 paper co-authored alongside Maldacena, titled “The Page curve of Hawking radiation from semiclassical geometry.” The Frontiers of Science Awards honor “top research, with an emphasis on achievements from the past ten years which are both excellent and of outstanding scholarly value.”