[0:01] Join me for a journey behind the scenes
[0:03] at the 2026 Arbell Prize. I'm heading to
[0:07] Oslo in Norway for this.
[0:12] For those unfamiliar with the Arbell
[0:14] Prize, it's been around for nearly 25
[0:16] years and has carved out a niche as the
[0:19] kind of Nobel Prize of mathematics.
[0:22] We'll talk more about that later. And
[0:25] hang around because later you'll see how
[0:27] I sneakily steal something from the
[0:30] prize winner himself.
[0:36] Now I arrived in Oslo on a Monday night,
[0:38] meaning I missed the traditional wreath
[0:40] laying ceremony at the statue of Neil's
[0:43] Henrik Arbell. He's the famed Norwegian
[0:46] mathematician after whom the prize is
[0:48] named, of course. And I did have time on
[0:51] Tuesday morning to go and pay my own
[0:53] respects.
[0:58] The wreath you can see was still there.
[1:01] I'm sure in the UK some scallywag would
[1:03] have pinched that by now, but there you
[1:04] go. Blowing in the wind. Now, I don't
[1:07] know if you've heard of Arbel, but if
[1:09] you're a math person, you've probably
[1:10] heard the term Arbillion. That comes
[1:13] from Arbell, so his name's everywhere.
[1:16] Now, next it was off to this very fancy
[1:18] hall for the prize ceremony. These
[1:21] murals were painted by Edward Monk,
[1:24] another famous Norwegian.
[1:26] Now, the winner of the prize was no
[1:28] surprise. It had been announced a few
[1:30] months earlier and it was the German Ger
[1:33] Falting.
[1:34] >> Our board has decided to award the Able
[1:37] Prize to G Fings.
[1:40] >> I won't go deep into his mathematics
[1:42] here. Suffice to say, he's a big deal in
[1:44] mathematics, and he cracks something
[1:46] called Mordell's conjecture. If I had a
[1:48] dollar for every time I heard the word
[1:50] Mell during this week, I'd almost be
[1:52] able to afford a beer in Oslo.
[2:07] Now, there was lots of singing and
[2:09] music.
[2:10] Fings by all accounts is a big music
[2:12] fan. So he probably quite enjoyed this.
[2:21] >> Your royal highness a laurate, ladies
[2:24] and gentlemen.
[2:25] >> And after a suitable amount of pomp and
[2:27] a very classily made intro video, the
[2:30] crown prince of Norway handed over the
[2:33] prize.
[2:35] Despite having a few issues with the
[2:36] trophy's orientation, Faultings then
[2:38] gave a really nice speech. He's quite a
[2:41] softly spoken and humble man, but I also
[2:43] found him quite funny. He's a dry wit.
[2:50] We then left the hall and I couldn't
[2:52] help noticing the trophy was left up
[2:54] there on stage. I hope someone picks
[2:56] that up later. And next, everyone got
[2:59] properly overdressed and we headed to
[3:01] the castle. More wine, of course. There
[3:04] was no shortage of that. And we all
[3:06] shook hands with this government
[3:08] minister and faultings himself.
[3:10] >> Congratulations.
[3:12] >> That's a lot of handshakes, more music
[3:14] and speeches. And it was actually quite
[3:16] a fun evening. I met some really
[3:18] interesting people at my table.
[3:28] But then leaving the banquet hall, I
[3:30] couldn't help noticing Falting had left
[3:32] his name tag on his table. He was gone
[3:34] and rather than having it tossed in the
[3:36] bin, I decided to keep it as a souvenir.
[3:39] Hey, at least I didn't steal that
[3:40] wreath, right? The next day, we were off
[3:42] to the university for lectures. Falting
[3:44] himself and three experts giving more
[3:46] technical talks. I have to admit, as a
[3:48] non-mathematician, some were a little
[3:50] over my head. This was definitely for
[3:52] the hardcore,
[3:54] but Falting sat through them. And as his
[3:57] reward, he was thrown under the bus for
[3:59] yet another interview. This time with
[4:01] me. What part of the festivities that
[4:04] we've seen so far did do you most like
[4:07] and what do you least like if you will
[4:08] tell me as well about it all.
[4:10] >> Least like are the many interviews I
[4:13] have to give
[4:16] and most like
[4:18] the prize ceremony ceremony was nice.
[4:21] >> Tell me about prizes. You've received a
[4:24] few obviously. What role do they play in
[4:26] mathematics? Do you see them as an
[4:28] important thing or trivial? How do you
[4:30] feel about prizes in general?
[4:33] >> Well, I mean it's when I was young, I
[4:36] didn't think about prizes
[4:39] and uh now I suddenly get them and uh I
[4:44] thought I mean they seem to concentrate
[4:46] on few people and not and I decided
[4:51] there mechanism going on. I mean the
[4:56] prize giver giver gains him prestige if
[5:00] the prize winner has prestige and the
[5:03] prize winner has prestige if the prize
[5:06] giver has prestige and so the prize
[5:09] giver looks for people who have prestige
[5:12] and how do they find them? they have to
[5:15] have gotten other prizes
[5:18] and so it comes that sort of prizes go
[5:21] to few people and there are many people
[5:24] who would deserve some recognition who
[5:27] don't get it so it's not a fair system
[5:31] but I'm profiting from it
[5:33] >> the full interview can be found over at
[5:34] number file 2 see the links below and I
[5:36] did show professor faultings his stolen
[5:38] name tag and he autographed it for me
[5:43] another party this time at the Norwegian
[5:45] Academy of Sciences which essentially
[5:47] runs the prize on behalf of the
[5:49] government. Helga Holden chaired the
[5:51] committee which decided the winner. So I
[5:54] spoke to him too.
[5:55] >> Let me say a phrase to you which I don't
[5:56] know if it's a band phrase or not.
[5:59] >> The Nobel Prize of mathematics.
[6:01] >> Yeah, this is a band. This is the band
[6:03] phrase. I I never use it. I never use
[6:06] it.
[6:06] >> But other people do use it and I don't
[6:08] mind if they use it.
[6:09] >> Okay.
[6:10] >> But I don't we don't the the academy
[6:12] will never use that. Yeah, I can
[6:15] understand why Alfred Nobel died now.
[6:18] But do you think he missed a trick by
[6:19] not having mathematics?
[6:20] >> Oh yes, he did a big mistake. A big
[6:22] mistake. Yes. I mean this was on the
[6:24] mission and I mean all these stories
[6:26] about why there is no Nobel Prize in
[6:28] mathematics and I think the closest one
[6:30] is that he didn't see the practical
[6:31] importance of mathematics because the
[6:34] original uh plan for the Nobel Prize in
[6:36] physics was to recognize the biggest
[6:38] discovery of the previous year. that
[6:41] does not make much sense these days at
[6:43] all and the first years it was given for
[6:45] practical inventions
[6:47] and he couldn't see any practical uh use
[6:50] of mathematics and of course now we know
[6:52] that this is not true and also we know
[6:55] that invent or discoveries in physics
[6:57] takes more than a year so the plan was
[7:00] great but he missed out something I was
[7:03] speaking to uh fings today and he was
[7:06] full of happiness and praise about his
[7:08] prize
[7:08] >> but he did raise an interesting point
[7:10] and I have read it elsewhere as well
[7:12] that the mathematical prizes can become
[7:15] bit of a like a circuit and the same
[7:17] people the same people win them you know
[7:19] if he won a fields medal then you win
[7:21] this then you win that and the same the
[7:23] same
[7:24] >> and I wonder how you respond to that
[7:26] because it's it seems kind of inevitable
[7:28] but I don't know how you get around
[7:29] >> it is this is an issue and we discuss
[7:32] this in the committee and we try to
[7:33] avoid you know making the circle smaller
[7:36] and smaller and some people get all the
[7:38] prices now I I mean there are a few
[7:41] people who stand out and they deserve
[7:44] all almost all the prices and they will
[7:46] get them eventually but we do make a
[7:49] serious search and look for names that
[7:51] have not necessarily been recognized and
[7:53] who deserve it. So so it is an issue. I
[7:56] I think it's a very valid point and uh
[7:59] has to be taken seriously. So when the
[8:02] committee sits and decides who the
[8:03] winner is going to be, it's not just a
[8:05] pure meritocracy and okay, all the best
[8:08] mathematicians except that one's got it
[8:09] and you're like working down a list.
[8:11] >> To put it uh in very simple words, when
[8:13] I took over the the chairmanship, I
[8:16] didn't get a list from my my predecessor
[8:19] with a list and I just had to cross out
[8:21] the next four names on his list. That's
[8:23] not how it works. So, so we try to scan
[8:27] the mathematical landscape and see if
[8:29] some people have been forgotten, some
[8:31] areas have been forgotten.
[8:34] We look for nominations and we collect
[8:37] letters of references, letter of
[8:39] recommendations from experts, real
[8:41] expert worldwide. Again, a full
[8:43] interview over at number file 2. And by
[8:45] the way, I asked around and I found
[8:48] this. Falting's prize was here in
[8:50] storage, presumably to be sent to him a
[8:52] bit later. Look at this lovely box.
[8:54] >> I have to admit, it feels kind of
[8:56] plastic. I wish it had been like crystal
[8:58] or glass or something. Maybe some silver
[9:00] and gold bits on it. But there you go.
[9:02] With a cash prize of 7.5 million
[9:05] Norwegian crowns, I'm sure the laurates
[9:07] can afford to jazz it up later if they
[9:09] want. Having seen multiple prize winners
[9:12] and these top people, is there anything
[9:14] you've noticed that you think, "Ah,
[9:15] that's that's why these best men and
[9:18] women, they've got something in common
[9:19] or something about them?" Yeah, I have
[9:21] the the privilege of having seen all of
[9:24] them since 2003
[9:27] and I have to say they stand out in some
[9:29] way. It's hard to describe but they
[9:31] really stand out from the crowd. I mean
[9:34] they are very individualistic.
[9:37] They are very independent thinkers. They
[9:40] do what they think they they want to do
[9:43] because they know they have been
[9:45] successful in doing that throughout
[9:47] their career. They have done things that
[9:48] people have said you nobody can do this
[9:50] and they have done it. So they stand out
[9:53] and overall they are extremely
[9:55] impressive from the professional point
[9:57] of view. When you look at other aspects
[10:01] you know I mean they are more like
[10:03] regular people when it comes outside
[10:04] their special field but in their special
[10:07] field I mean they are stars. That was it
[10:09] for me. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend
[10:11] some of the other events held in Arbell
[10:13] Week, including celebrations for younger
[10:15] students and teachers, but they all
[10:16] looked great. And maybe they'll invite
[10:19] me back next year. Or perhaps not when
[10:21] they find out about that stolen name
[10:23] tag.