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Cambridge mathematician wins top prize
Caucher Birkar
Caucher Birkar, a British mathematician from the University of Cambridge recently won the top prize awarded in mathematics.
He was awarded the 2018 Fields Medal for his research into ‘Fano Varieties’- an area of algebraic geometry.
Cambridge mathematician wins top prize
Caucher Birkar, a British mathematician from the University of Cambridge recently won the top prize awarded in mathematics.
He was awarded the 2018 Fields Medal for his research into ‘Fano Varieties’- an area of algebraic geometry.
Caucher Birkar
Unfortunately, the medal was stolen along with his wallet minutes after it was awarded. The medal has not been traced so far but Birkar has been given a replacement.
Birkar who is Kurdish by birth, sought asylum in the UK having grown up in western Iran. He came to Britain as a refugee in 2003 and studied at the University of Nottingham before moving to Cambridge.
“In Tehran University, at the maths club, where I was studying, the pictures of Fields medalists were lining the walls. I looked at them and said to myself, ‘Will I ever meet one of these people?’”
Caucher Birkar
Birkar’s real name is Faraydoun Derakhshani. He changed his name when he arrived in Britain. Caucher Birkar means ‘migrant mathematician’ in Kurdish.