June Huh, a visiting associate research scholar in mathematics at Princeton and a visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, will receive a 2019 New Horizons in Mathematics Prize.
Huh studies the geometry, topology and combinatorics of algebraic varieties. Huh shares the prize with Karim Adiprasito of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for their “development, with Eric Katz, of combinatorial Hodge theory leading to the resolution of the log-concavity conjecture of Rota.” Their approach — and Huh’s extraordinary journey to mathematics — was recently described in Quanta magazine.
The New Horizons Prize is part of the Breakthrough Prize family of awards. The Breakthrough Prizes are sponsored by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Ma Huateng, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. The winners are chosen by committees composed of previous Breakthrough Prize laureates in each field.
Huh and the other laureates will engage in a program of lectures and discussions and be recognized at the Breakthrough Prize ceremony — the “Oscars of Science,” on Sunday, Nov. 4. The gala, hosted by actor, producer and philanthropist Pierce Brosnan, will bring together luminaries of the science and tech communities with celebrities, athletes and musicians, all attending with the common goal of celebrating science and scientific achievement and inspiring the next generation of scientists. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast live on Nat Geo, YouTube and Facebook Live from the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
By Liz Fuller-Wright, Office of Communications