James Maynard (Photo by Ryan Cowan, used with permission)

James Maynard, a mathematician from the University of Oxford, won one of this year's Fields Medals at the International Congress of Mathematicians. The Fields Medal is one of the most prestigious prizes in mathematics. It is awarded every four years "to recognise outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement". Up to four mathematicians up to the age of 40 are awarded a Fields Medal each time.

We were lucky enough to talk to Maynard in the run-up to this year's Congress. You can find out how he went from a fascination with numbers as a young child to making spectacular contributions to number theory in our short introduction, in our in-depth article, or by listening to our podcast with Maynard.

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This article was produced as part of our collaboration with the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI) – you can find all the content from our collaboration here. The INI is an international research centre and our neighbour here on the University of Cambridge's maths campus. It attracts leading mathematical scientists from all over the world, and is open to all. Visit www.newton.ac.uk to find out more.