Mark Braverman (Photo Lance Murphey)

Mark Braverman was awarded the 2022 Abacus Medal at this year's International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM). The Abacus Medal is awarded for "outstanding contributions in Mathematical Aspects of Information Science". The Medal used to be called the Rolf Nevanlinna prize, and is awarded every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians.

We were lucky enough to interview Braverman in the run-up to the ICM. He told us that his overall goal is to understand computation, both because it is a fundamental intellectual pursuit, but also because computation is now embedded in our daily lives. "Computers and communication are now so cheap they're part of many devices – even a toaster is a computer!"

Find out more in our short introduction or in our in-depth article.

Return to the Plus advent calendar 2022.

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.