Shaw laureate Maxim Kontsevich's work recognised at award ceremony
Russian mathematician delves into mysteries of the universe, to help generations far in future
It is hard to follow a conversation with Maxim Kontsevich, as he peppers it with unfamiliar terms such as mirror symmetry and vector spaces.
For the average person, the Russian mathematician may well have hailed from another dimension - delving into the mysteries of the universe to determine through maths how unseen forces balance one another.
His is the kind of work that, in simple terms, explores questions like: why does the pull of the sun affect the earth, even though there does not seem to be anything but empty space in between? Are up, down, forward, back, space and time not the only dimensions that exist?
"It's all very abstract. It's beautiful," the 2012 Shaw laureate for mathematics said about his work.
The beauty of the subject matter is what has kept Kontsevich, a 48-year-old professor at the French Institute of Advanced Scientific Studies, absorbed in the past two decades trying to figure out mathematical equations for forces in tiny dimensions of the universe that have yet to be seen or measured.
For his endeavours, Kontsevich received recognition at the Shaw Prize awards ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on Monday night.
