Professor Ngo Bao Chau, the Fields Medal winner, has been honoured at an ongoing symposium held by the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences in Toronto, Canada.

Prof. Chau won the Fields Medal for his proof of the Fundamental Lemma in the theory of automorphic forms through the introduction of new algebro-geometric methods.

Entitled “Fundamentals of Langlands programme”, the four-day symposium, started on October 15, has focused on the work of Prof. Chau and its current and potential impact.

It looks to bring the general area of automorphic forms and the Langlands programme to a broader audience and to present recent developments in the area that are related Chau’s work.

Addressing the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Canada Le Sy Vuong Ha said he hoped the event will serve as a friendship bridge linking Canada and Vietnam when the two countries are preparing to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent in Canada, Prof. Chau urged young intellectuals to help transfer the latest scientific and technological knowledge from abroad to the country for the development course.

The symposium formed part of activities to mark the 20th founding anniversary of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences of the University of Toronto .

It is also the first of its kind that the Fields Institute has planned to hold annually to honour the recent winners of the Fields Medal, which is equivalent to the Nobel prize in mathematics.

Prof. Chau, who is now a lecturer at the University of Chicago in the US, received the Fields Medal in 2010, making him the first and the only Vietnamese to get the world's most prestigious maths award.