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HONG KONG - Japanese mathematician Kenji Fukaya has received an award in Hong Kong for his pioneering work in geometry, becoming the third Japanese laureate of the Shaw Prize, regarded by some as the "Nobel Prize of the East." The 66-year-old, who formerly worked at the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, was presented with the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences in Hong Kong on Oct. 21. The other two past Japanese laureates of the Shaw Prize, which is also awarded in the categories of astronomy and medicine and life sciences, are stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, who won in 2008, and molecular biologist Kazutoshi Mori, who won in 2014. Yamanaka also won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012. Fukaya is best known for the creation of what is now called the "Fukaya category," seen as having a lasting impact in fields including pure mathematics and theoretical physics. Fukaya joined Tsinghua University's Yau Mathematical Sciences Center and the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications in China last year, after working at Stony Brook University in the United States as a professor of mathematics. During the award presentation ceremony, Fukaya said he was "very happy to know that our work is understood and appreciated," noting that he usually works alone and that those around him often do not understand what he is working on. The Shaw Prize, which was established by the late Hong Kong entertainment mogul Run Run Shaw, has been given annually since 2004. Each prize comprises a medal, a certificate and a cash award of $1.2 million.
