Vietnam’s legendary maths genius Ngo Bao Chau to join University of Hong Kong

SCMP | Feb. 9, 2026, 3 a.m. | Original

Ngo Bao Chau, who became the first Vietnamese winner of the Fields Medal, regarded as the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize, in 2010. Photo: Handout

Mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, who made history in 2010 as the first Vietnamese recipient of the prestigious Fields Medal, will join the science faculty at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as a chair professor in June 2026.
Ngo, 53, currently distinguished service professor and chair of the University of Chicago’s mathematics department, is a pre-eminent figure in Vietnamese mathematics. HKU announced his new appointment on Thursday.

Born in Hanoi in 1972, Ngo showed early brilliance, winning gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad in 1988 and 1989, before going on to become the youngest full professor in Vietnamese history.

Ngo earned his PhD from Paris-Sud University in 1997 and held positions at a number of prestigious institutions, including the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He has also served as scientific director of the Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics.

In 2009, Ngo earned global acclaim for his groundbreaking proof of the Langlands Programme, a grand unified theory of mathematics proposed in 1967 and described as “one of mathematics’ most ambitious theoretical frameworks,” according to the HKU website.

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Time magazine hailed the solving of this decades-old problem as one of its Top 10 Scientific Discoveries of the year, and in 2010, Ngo, aged 38, was awarded the Fields Medal – often regarded as mathematics’ Nobel Prize for researchers under 40.

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