First Woman Ever Wins Math's Version of the 'Nobel Prize'

For the first time ever, a woman has won the Abel Prize, which the Guardian calls one of the most prestigious international mathematics awards. In fact, there is no Nobel Prize for math, and the Abel Prize is seen by some as the equivalent of the Nobel. Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin is this year's winner of the $704,000 prize, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced in Oslo on Tuesday. Keskulla Uhlenbeck's "fundamental work in geometric analysis and gauge theory ... has dramatically changed the mathematical landscape," the jury said, noting that she is also "a strong advocate for gender equality in science and mathematics." (This Abel Prize winner solved a 300-year-old math mystery.)