Yau, 77, who led Hong Kong’s bid committee, made the appeal after the International Mathematical Union (IMU) awarded hosting rights for the 2030 ICM to Glasgow, Scotland, at the IMU General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
“My colleagues and I are deeply regretful about the voting result,” Yau said on Wednesday, as quoted by the South China Morning Post.
He said voting power within the IMU is heavily concentrated, with the European Mathematical Society holding a majority of the votes while Asian countries collectively account for less than a quarter.
Yau said Europe, North America, Africa and Latin America each have regional organizations that coordinate their mathematical communities, adding that Asia “urgently needs a similar organisation.”
“An Asian Mathematical Union would better represent the interests of mathematicians in the region, foster collaboration and exchange among them, and promote the coordinated advancement of mathematical sciences across Asia.”
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1982 Fields Medalist Shing-Tung Yau. Photo courtesy of Nanjing Center for Applied Mathematics |
Held every four years, the ICM is the world’s largest gathering of mathematicians, bringing together thousands of researchers to present major discoveries and discuss the future of the field. It also hosts the presentation of the Fields Medal, widely regarded as the “Nobel Prize of mathematics.”
Yau received the Fields Medal in 1982 at the age of 33, becoming the first Chinese mathematician to win the honor. He is now a chair professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
The 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from July 23 to 30, where mathematicians Wang Hong and Deng Yu, both of Chinese origin, were among the recipients of this year’s Fields Medal.
