Math fans of all ages celebrate U of T prof’s historic Fields Medal

For high school student Emir Kardos, watching the University of Toronto’s Jacob Tsimerman win the 2026 Fields Medal just down the hall from the professor’s office felt like “standing in the presence of greatness.”

The 17-year-old was among dozens of math enthusiasts who gathered at a watch party at U of T’s Bahen Centre on Thursday to see Tsimerman accept the award dubbed the “Nobel Prize in mathematics.” 

The lecture hall erupted in cheers, some rising to their feet, as the livestream showed Tsimerman – in a blue and silver tuxedo – cross a stage in Philadelphia to accept the honour.

“I think that was one of the happiest moments ever,” says Kardos, who wore a pi sweatshirt for the occasion. “I genuinely started tearing up.”

A professor of mathematics in the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tsimerman is the first scholar based at a Canadian institution to win the prestigious award from the International Mathematical Union. One of four recipients this year, Tsimerman was cited for his role in “the vast extension of the scope of o-minimal techniques within arithmetic and complex algebraic geometry.”

Kardos and his classmate Adelaide Schwartz, 16, attend math lectures at U of T for fun. They both hope to eventually enrol at the university one day to study under world-leading experts like Tsimerman, who was himself once a U of T undergraduate student at University College (he completed his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in just two years).

“The advancement that happens in this institution is so inspiring, and this is just more evidence of that,” says Schwartz. 

The excitement surrounding Tsimerman’s historic win reverberated well beyond the university. The news made headlines across the globe in outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail and CBC, among others.

Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated Tsimerman on winning the prize named after the late John Charles Fields, a fellow U of T alumnus and professor who first proposed the award at an international math congress in Toronto in 1924. “Nearly a century after Canadian mathematician J.C. Fields established this award in Toronto, it comes home,” Carney said in a social post.

Other notable figures who shared their congratulations included Nolan Quinn, Ontario’s minister of colleges, universities, research excellence and security, and Mélanie Joly, Canada’s minister of industry.

In his video remarks at the ceremony, Tsimerman suggested that the hardest problems in math are puzzled through in the mind, but the solutions are often found with other people.

“Just to succeed at anything, you have to collaborate because math is so big,” Tsimerman says. “Through working together, our islands overlap more and more. I think a lot more of my life exists in community with other people now.”

Luanne Mak, a U of T student who is specializing in mathematics as she heads into her second year at Woodsworth College, says that spirit of shared success ran through the watch party.

“When I saw everyone clapping and standing up, I thought, I’m so honoured I’m at U of T,” she says.

On Friday, Tsimerman sat down for a virtual celebration and conversation that covered everything from his sartorial inspiration and love of improv to what it was like to go from U of T undergrad to prof. The event included congratulatory messages from U of T President Melanie Woodin and Professor Mary Pugh, chair of the department of mathematics, which hosted the event.

For Stephen Wright, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, the win marks a “full circle” for the university. U of T nurtured Tsimerman’s passion for problem-solving as an undergrad, and he now shares that with his students.

“We’re very proud of closely aligning our research and teaching missions. That really comes together with Professor Tsimerman,” says Wright. “This is now a Fields Medal winner who has made the cutting-edge contributions to the field – and he’s bringing the joy of that discovery to the classroom.”

Kumar Murty, a professor and former chair in U of T’s department of mathematics and former director of the Fields Institute, says he expects Tsimerman’s win will bring new talent to U of T to continue tackling the discipline’s toughest problems. 

“It shows we’re capable of doing really good work standing with the best people in the world, and that’s going to have tremendous inspirational value.”

Similarly, Markus Stock, the principal of University College, said Tsimerman’s award cements his legacy at the university’s founding college. 

“From his days here as an exceptional student to his distinguished career as a professor and colleague, Jacob Tsimerman has exemplified intellectual courage and scholarly excellence that UC has stewarded for almost two centuries,” Stock said. “To bring home this prestigious medal is a triumph that will inspire generations to come.”