Prof. Phan Thanh Nam, 35, from Phu Yen, has been the first Vietnamese professor to win the European Mathematical Society (EMS) prize, VnExpress reported.

Prof. Phan Thanh Nam. Photo: EMS Prizes

The EMS prize is considered the second most prestigious mathematics award after the Fields Medal of the International Mathematical Union (IMU).

Since its inception in 1992, the EMS prizes are awarded every four years at the European Congress of Mathematics (ECM). At each ECM, up to ten EMS prizes are handed to young researchers under 35 years of age, who are European citizens or working in Europe, in recognition of their excellent contributions in mathematics. There have been eight awarding seasons to date.

This year, the awarding ceremony will not be held as usual at the European Congress of Mathematics (ECM) as it has been postponed until June 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nam is a former student of the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City. He is currently a math professor at the Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany.

Before starting his teaching career in Germany, Nam was an assistant professor in Masaryk University, the Czech Republic and a member of Austria’s Science and Technology Society. He has been invited twice to address the International Convention of Mathematical Physics.

In 2018, he was awarded the Young Scientist Award in the field of mathematical physics by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) for his excellent scientific research in mathematical physics.

Nam's research interests include mathematical physics analysis, especially multi-particle quantum mechanics, spectral theory, variation calculation, derivative equations and calculus.