The 1990 Fields Medals, mathematics' most prestigious international awards, were announced on August 21 in Kyoto, Japan, at the International Congress of Mathematicians. Four mathematicians received the award, which is accompanied by $15,000 Canadian. The Fields Medal, regarded as the Nobel Prize in mathematics and given every four years, was conceived by Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields.
Vaughan F.R. Jones, professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, was recognized for his contributions to knot theory, which uses mathematical equations to describe knots.
A mathematical knot can be pictured as a knotted piece of string that forms a closed, continuous loop. If the string can be deformed without cutting it into a simple circle, with no twists or crossings, it is not a true knot rather, it is an unknot. Sometimes, two knots may appear different, but with enough twisting and pulling, they can be deformed into the same ...
