The New Horizons in Mathematics Prize for 2025 has been awarded to Ewain Gwynne from the University of Chicago. He received the award for his pioneering work in conformal probability, focusing on probabilistic objects like random curves and surfaces.
The prize, targeting early-career scientists and mathematicians who have made significant contributions to their fields, comes with a reward of $100,000. This award is part of the broader Breakthrough Prizes, backed by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri Milner, Julia Milner, and Anne Wojcicki. The Breakthrough Prizes, often termed the "Oscars of Science," acknowledge achievements in life sciences, fundamental physics, and mathematics annually.
Gwynne was recognized specifically for his “contributions to conformal probability, in particular to the understanding of the LQG metric.” His research delves into random fractal surfaces called Liouville quantum gravity (LQG) surfaces, linking them to several areas of theoretical physics. He demonstrated that these surfaces might be viewed as metric spaces, which allows measuring distances between points.
“It is a great honor to receive the prize,” Gwynne stated. He expressed gratitude to his PhD advisor, Scott Sheffield, and collaborators Jian Ding and Jason Miller for their work on the LQG metric. He also thanked students and postdocs he worked with at both the University of Chicago and elsewhere.
Gwynne, who received his PhD from MIT and his BA from Northwestern University, joined the University of Chicago faculty in 2020 after time spent at Trinity College in Cambridge. Gwynne intends to donate the $100,000 award to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, contributing to efforts in finding a cure for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.
The Breakthrough Prizes have recognized several University of Chicago-affiliated researchers over the years. Mathematician Alex Eskin was awarded for the "magic wand" theorem, while physicist Craig Hogan received the prize in 2015 for his research on the universe's accelerating expansion. Contributions to the first image of a black hole, gravitational wave detection, and cellular organization discoveries were also honored.
Notably, the New Horizons Prize was given in 2023 to Hannes Bernien and colleagues; in 2022 to mathematician Sebastian Hurtado-Salazar; in 2019 to physicist Michael Levin; and in 2016 to mathematician André Neves for their respective groundbreaking work.