The Paris-South XI University held an award
ceremony to honour its Professor Ngo Bao Chau, who was awarded the prestigious
Fields Medal this year.

Professor Ngo Bao Chau. (Photo: Vietnam+)

In his
opening speech, the university’s chairman Guy Couarraze, said Chau served as a
valuable link in promoting French-Vietnamese co-operation in tertiary education
and scientific study, manifested through a co-operation project between Paris XI
University and the Ha Noi University of Science and Technology.

The
university chairman highlighted Chau’s passion for scientific research and his
love of Viet Nam – where he was born.

Minister
of Education and Research Valeria Pecresse affirmed Chau’s Fields Medal was a
noble award for Viet Nam and an honour for France’s mathematical studies,
especially the Paris XI University.

She
expressed her pleasure with Chau’s decision to create a scientific research
bridge between Asia, Europe and America, affirming that Chau’s talent was
recognised through his professorship in Viet Nam, France and the US.

Vietnamese Ambassador to France Le Kinh Tai said the country would create all
possible conditions for Prof Chau to make further contributions to the
development of Vietnamese mathematical research.

About
6,000 Vietnamese students and researchers are studying in France, he added.

Prof
Chau said his time spent studying and researching at the university marked a
milestone in his scientific career and he shared his belief that the institution
would continue fostering more talented mathematicians.

Chau was
awarded the 2010 Fields Medal for his proof of the fundamental lemma in the
theory of automorphic forms, by introducing new algebrogeometric methods, at the
26th International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in India in August.

Chau,
born in 1972 in Ha Noi, studied at the Paris VI University and then completed
his PhD Degree at the Paris XI University under the supervision of Gerard Laumon.

He took
up a new appointment at the University of Chicago in September.

Along
with Laumon, Chau was awarded the Clay research award in 2004 and in 2007, he
was awarded the Sophie Germain prize and the Oberwolfach prize.

In 2009,
his evidence proving the Langland’s fundamental lemma was selected by Time
Magazine as one of the 10 most outstanding scientific discoveries of the year.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News