Of Medals and Cocktail Party Chatter

Evelyn Lamb ran a timely piece at her Roots of Unity blog today on the Fields Medal, to be awarded to four people this coming Wednesday (I hadn't previously seen the number of recipients listed this year, so I'll assume she's right; it's always 2-4 individuals):

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/2014/08/11/how-to-talk-about-the-fields-medal-at-your-next-cocktail-party/

She touches on the 'age-ist' nature of the Fields, before discussing some of math's other prestigious prizes. Most interesting part to me was learning of the "Chern Medal" for lifelong achievement in math, which I'd not heard of, and which Evelyn calls "The hipster candidate for the 'Nobel Prize of mathematics,'” first awarded in 2010 (and only every four years thereafter). She urges we keep an eye on it now, well before it becomes "cool." :-)

Anyway, the excitement is building for Wednesday's announcement, so stay tuned.
[...since it'll get widespread coverage on the InterTubes, I'll likely tweet about the Fields awards, but not blog about it here, other than to include as part of the Friday potpourri on MathTango]