"It means a lot to me and also to my other collaborators," Wang said. She recalled learning the news that Terence Tao got the Fields Medal when she was a high school student. "I was quite excited (then). So I"m also excited today."

　　Wang works in harmonic analysis and geometric measure theory. "A problem that lies in the two fields is the Kakeya conjecture ... I do feel like I"m combining the previous two fields" methods," she said.

　　"I am truly delighted for Dr. Deng and Dr. Wang, and I warmly congratulate both of them," Fields Medal laureate Efim Zelmanov told Xinhua.

　　"The essential part of both laureates" education was completed in China. Their remarkable achievement is a powerful recognition of China"s fundamental and rapidly growing role in the world of mathematics," Zelmanov added.

　　Deng first studied at Peking University before transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. Wang got her bachelor"s at Peking University, a master"s degree from Paris-Saclay University and a Ph.D. from the MIT.

　　Deng is a professor at the University of Chicago. Wang is a professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques in France and the Courant Institute at New York University.

　　There are altogether four Fields Medal laureates this year. The other two are John Pardon, a U.S. mathematician at Stony Brook University; and Jacob Tsimerman, a Canadian mathematician at the University of Toronto.

　　The Fields Medal is a top international mathematics prize awarded every four years to two to four young researchers under the age of 40 in recognition of their outstanding mathematical achievements in existing work and their promise of future achievement.