Vietnam's Fields Medalist Ngo Bao Chau to join University of Hong Kong

HKU announced on Thursday that Chau will join its Department of Mathematics under the Faculty of Science.

The move follows the university’s recent recruitment of Vietnamese mathematician Vu Ha Van, a leading expert in combinatorics, probability, and random matrix theory.

Professor Xiang Zhang, president and vice-chancellor of HKU, said Chau’s appointment marks an important milestone in the university’s pursuit of global academic excellence, reinforcing its role as a hub for visionary research and outstanding talent.

Born in Hanoi in 1972, Chau is best known for proving the fundamental lemma, a breakthrough in number theory that earned him the Fields Medal in 2010, often referred to as the ‘Nobel Prize of Mathematics.’

As a student at the High School for Gifted Students, under Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam National University, he became the first Vietnamese competitor to win two gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad in 1988 and 1989.

He later studied in France under a government scholarship, earning his PhD at age 25 from the University of Paris-Sud.

In 2003, he completed his habilitation at the University of Paris-North and was appointed professor at the University of Paris-Sud in 2004, becoming Vietnam’s youngest professor.

Since 2010, he has worked at the University of Chicago while also serving as scientific director of the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics.