Hong Wang ( zh, s=王虹, p=Wáng Hóng; born 1991) is a Chinese mathematician who works in

Fourier analysis In mathematics, Fourier analysis () is the study of the way general functions may be represented or approximated by sums of simpler trigonometric functions. Fourier analysis grew from the study of Fourier series, and is named after Joseph Fo ...

and

geometric measure theory In mathematics, geometric measure theory (GMT) is the study of geometric properties of sets (typically in Euclidean space) through measure theory. It allows mathematicians to extend tools from differential geometry to a much larger class of surfac ...

. She received the

Maryam Mirzakhani New Frontiers Prize The Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics is an annual award of the Breakthrough Prize series announced in 2013. It is funded by Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg and others. The annual award comes with a cash gift of $3 million. The Breakthrough Prize ...

in 2022.

Early life and education

Wang was born in

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...

, Guangxi, China, in 1991. Her parents are both teachers at a secondary school in

Pingle County Pingle County (; ) is a county in the northeast of Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefectu ...

. She skipped two grades during

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. In 2004, she attended . In 2007, 16-year-old Wang gained early admission to

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

's School of Earth and Space Sciences with a score of 653 in the

Gaokao The Nationwide Unified Examination for Admissions to General Universities and Colleges (), commonly abbreviated as the Gaokao (), is the annual nationally coordinated undergraduate admission exam in mainland China, held in early June. Despite the ...

. After a year, she transferred to the School of Mathematical Sciences. She received an undergraduate degree in mathematics at

in 2011. In 2014, she graduated with dual degrees: an engineering degree (diplôme d'ingénieur) at

École polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

and a master's degree from

Paris-Sud University Paris-Sud University (), also known as the University of Paris — XI (or as the Orsay Faculty of Sciences, University of Paris before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, ...

. In 2019, she received a PhD in mathematics from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

under the supervision of

Larry Guth Lawrence David Guth (; born 1977) is a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Education and career Guth graduated from Yale University in 2000 with a BS in mathematics. In 2005, he received his PhD in mathemati ...

Career

Wang was a member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

from 2019 to 2021. She then joined

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

as an assistant professor of mathematics. She is currently an associate professor at the

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU). Founded in 1935, it is named after Richard Courant, one of the founders of the Courant Institute ...

. On 1 September 2025, Wang joined the

Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques The Institut des hautes études scientifiques (IHÉS; English: Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies) is a French research institute supporting advanced research in mathematics and theoretical physics (also with a small theoretical biology g ...

as a Permanent Professor of Mathematics. On 24 February 2025, Wang and her collaborator Joshua Zahl posted an

arXiv arXiv (pronounced as "archive"—the X represents the Chi (letter), Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not Scholarly pee ...

preprint "Volume estimates for unions of convex sets, and the Kakeya set conjecture in three dimensions" claiming to solve the Kakeya conjecture in three dimensions. The general Kakeya conjecture has been described by

Terence Tao Terence Chi-Shen Tao (; born 17 July 1975) is an Australian-American mathematician, Fields medalist, and professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he holds the James and Carol Collins Chair in the Co ...

as "one of the most sought-after open problems in

". The claimed proof is considered to be a breakthrough in geometric measure theory.

Awards and honors

Wang was a 2022 recipient of the

, given "for advances on the restriction conjecture, the local smoothing conjecture, and related problems".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Hong 1991 births Living people Chinese mathematicians Chinese women mathematicians 21st-century Chinese mathematicians Peking University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni People from Guilin Mathematicians from Guangxi University of California, Los Angeles faculty École Polytechnique alumni Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences faculty Chinese expatriates in France Chinese expatriates in the United States