June Huh enrolled in a class taught by the famed Japanese mathematician Hironaka, who won the Fields Medal in 1970. Hironaka was charismatic, and Huh quickly fell under his sway. For the first time, Huh witnessed research mathematics unfolding in real time. Hironaka’s lectures weren’t polished as in other undergraduate courses, where the answers already worked out. Huh loved the suspense of it, the act of trying to do something no one really knew how to do. Huh discovered that this kind of mathematics could give him what poetry could not: the ability to search for beauty outside himself. And he found that unlike when he was a poet, he was never motivated by the desire for recognition. He just wanted to do math.

Huh applied to about a dozen doctoral programs in the US. But because of his undistinguished undergraduate experience, he was rejected by all of them, save one. In 2009, he began his studies at the University of Illinois before transferring to the University of Michigan in 2011 to complete his doctorate.

In doctorate program, he immediately stood out. As a beginning graduate student, he proved a conjecture in graph theory that had been open for 40 years. His solution stunned the math community. It was at that point that the University of Michigan, having rejected his initial application, recruited him to their graduate program.

Mathematicians were also equally impressed by his demeanor. His talks at the conferences were always accessible and concrete. Other mathematicians remarked about his incredible maturity. Unlike most graduate students, he already had a program in mind, and ideas about how to pursue it. Many of his collaborators note that he’s incredibly humble and down-to-earth. When he learned he’d won the Fields Medal, “it didn’t really feel that good,” Huh said. “ Of course you are happy, but deep down, you are a little worried that they might eventually figure out that you are not actually that good. I’m a reasonably good mathematician, but am I Field Medal-worthy?“

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https://youtu.be/yO8lQWb6TZ4

June Huh, High School Dropout, Wins the Fields Medal | Quanta Magazine

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