June 23, 2014 was a very nice day for five mathematicians: Simon Donaldson, Maxim Kontsevich, Jacob Lurie, Terence Tao and Richard Taylor. They were informed that they would be receiving the inaugural Breakthrough Prizes in Mathematics, each with a cash award of USD$3,000,000. They plan to share their good fortune.

The international, if still Euro-centric, nature of mathematics is obvious when we list where the five were born, educated and currently work:

Name Born Educated Current appointment(s) Donaldson Cambridge, UK Cambridge, UK; Oxford, UK Stony Brook, USA; Imperial College, UK Kontsevich Khimki, Russia Moscow State, Russia; Univ. Bonn, Germany IHES,

Continue reading Big Bucks for Big Breakthroughs: Prize recipients give three million dollar maths talks