Maryna Viazovska. Photo: Matteo Fieni.

Maryna Viazovska 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.

Viazovska is only the second woman to receive a Fields Medal, following on from Maryam Mirzakhani who won it in 2014. You can find out about her ground-breaking work and how it relates to a problem we're all familiar with from everyday life, in our short introduction, in our in-depth article, or by listening to our podcast featuring Viazovska.

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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.