Spirit of math beckons golden age of science

That graduates from China's top universities made waves in the global mathematics community by solving long-standing puzzles, and 2025, which was hailed as a milestone for Chinese mathematicians, should be seen more as an aspiration than a celebration. The heightened attention is nevertheless a heartening phenomenon.

Admittedly, it is a triumph of the international community of scholars. The young mathematicians received their undergraduate education in China before pursuing overseas studies, where they achieved groundbreaking results.

Following Wang Yilin's historic win last year as the first Chinese woman to receive the Salem Prize, two studies — co-authored by Wang Hong of New York University, Deng Yu of the University of Chicago and Ma Xiao of the University of Michigan, together with their foreign counterparts — have come to be recognized for proving the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture and solving the narrow formulation of Hilbert's sixth problem. These breakthroughs reportedly fill gaps in mathematical research, potentially advancing the validation of core conjectures and offering new tools for fluid dynamics.