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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.
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He was awarded the 2018 Fields Medal for his research into ‘Fano Varieties’- an area of algebraic geometry.
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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.
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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.