Abel Prize Ceremony 2026 — Full Transcript & Summary

[00:01] Join me for a journey behind the scenes

[00:03] at the 2026 Arbell Prize. I'm heading to

[00:07] Oslo in Norway for this.

[00:12] For those unfamiliar with the Arbell

[00:14] Prize, it's been around for nearly 25

[00:16] years and has carved out a niche as the

[00:19] kind of Nobel Prize of mathematics.

[00:22] We'll talk more about that later. And

[00:25] hang around because later you'll see how

[00:27] I sneakily steal something from the

[00:30] prize winner himself.

[00:36] Now I arrived in Oslo on a Monday night,

[00:38] meaning I missed the traditional wreath

[00:40] laying ceremony at the statue of Neil's

[00:43] Henrik Arbell. He's the famed Norwegian

[00:46] mathematician after whom the prize is

[00:48] named, of course. And I did have time on

[00:51] Tuesday morning to go and pay my own

[00:53] respects.

[00:58] The wreath you can see was still there.

[01:01] I'm sure in the UK some scallywag would

[01:03] have pinched that by now, but there you

[01:04] go. Blowing in the wind. Now, I don't

[01:07] know if you've heard of Arbel, but if

[01:09] you're a math person, you've probably

[01:10] heard the term Arbillion. That comes

[01:13] from Arbell, so his name's everywhere.

[01:16] Now, next it was off to this very fancy

[01:18] hall for the prize ceremony. These

[01:21] murals were painted by Edward Monk,

[01:24] another famous Norwegian.

[01:26] Now, the winner of the prize was no

[01:28] surprise. It had been announced a few

[01:30] months earlier and it was the German Ger

[01:33] Falting.

[01:34] >> Our board has decided to award the Able

[01:37] Prize to G Fings.

[01:40] >> I won't go deep into his mathematics

[01:42] here. Suffice to say, he's a big deal in

[01:44] mathematics, and he cracks something

[01:46] called Mordell's conjecture. If I had a

[01:48] dollar for every time I heard the word

[01:50] Mell during this week, I'd almost be

[01:52] able to afford a beer in Oslo.

[02:07] Now, there was lots of singing and

[02:09] music.

[02:10] Fings by all accounts is a big music

[02:12] fan. So he probably quite enjoyed this.

[02:21] >> Your royal highness a laurate, ladies

[02:24] and gentlemen.

[02:25] >> And after a suitable amount of pomp and

[02:27] a very classily made intro video, the

[02:30] crown prince of Norway handed over the

[02:33] prize.

[02:35] Despite having a few issues with the

[02:36] trophy's orientation, Faultings then

[02:38] gave a really nice speech. He's quite a

[02:41] softly spoken and humble man, but I also

[02:43] found him quite funny. He's a dry wit.

[02:50] We then left the hall and I couldn't

[02:52] help noticing the trophy was left up

[02:54] there on stage. I hope someone picks

[02:56] that up later. And next, everyone got

[02:59] properly overdressed and we headed to

[03:01] the castle. More wine, of course. There

[03:04] was no shortage of that. And we all

[03:06] shook hands with this government

[03:08] minister and faultings himself.

[03:10] >> Congratulations.

[03:12] >> That's a lot of handshakes, more music

[03:14] and speeches. And it was actually quite

[03:16] a fun evening. I met some really

[03:18] interesting people at my table.

[03:28] But then leaving the banquet hall, I

[03:30] couldn't help noticing Falting had left

[03:32] his name tag on his table. He was gone

[03:34] and rather than having it tossed in the

[03:36] bin, I decided to keep it as a souvenir.

[03:39] Hey, at least I didn't steal that

[03:40] wreath, right? The next day, we were off

[03:42] to the university for lectures. Falting

[03:44] himself and three experts giving more

[03:46] technical talks. I have to admit, as a

[03:48] non-mathematician, some were a little

[03:50] over my head. This was definitely for

[03:52] the hardcore,

[03:54] but Falting sat through them. And as his

[03:57] reward, he was thrown under the bus for

[03:59] yet another interview. This time with

[04:01] me. What part of the festivities that

[04:04] we've seen so far did do you most like

[04:07] and what do you least like if you will

[04:08] tell me as well about it all.

[04:10] >> Least like are the many interviews I

[04:13] have to give

[04:16] and most like

[04:18] the prize ceremony ceremony was nice.

[04:21] >> Tell me about prizes. You've received a

[04:24] few obviously. What role do they play in

[04:26] mathematics? Do you see them as an

[04:28] important thing or trivial? How do you

[04:30] feel about prizes in general?

[04:33] >> Well, I mean it's when I was young, I

[04:36] didn't think about prizes

[04:39] and uh now I suddenly get them and uh I

[04:44] thought I mean they seem to concentrate

[04:46] on few people and not and I decided

[04:51] there mechanism going on. I mean the

[04:56] prize giver giver gains him prestige if

[05:00] the prize winner has prestige and the

[05:03] prize winner has prestige if the prize

[05:06] giver has prestige and so the prize

[05:09] giver looks for people who have prestige

[05:12] and how do they find them? they have to

[05:15] have gotten other prizes

[05:18] and so it comes that sort of prizes go

[05:21] to few people and there are many people

[05:24] who would deserve some recognition who

[05:27] don't get it so it's not a fair system

[05:31] but I'm profiting from it

[05:33] >> the full interview can be found over at

[05:34] number file 2 see the links below and I

[05:36] did show professor faultings his stolen

[05:38] name tag and he autographed it for me

[05:43] another party this time at the Norwegian

[05:45] Academy of Sciences which essentially

[05:47] runs the prize on behalf of the

[05:49] government. Helga Holden chaired the

[05:51] committee which decided the winner. So I

[05:54] spoke to him too.

[05:55] >> Let me say a phrase to you which I don't

[05:56] know if it's a band phrase or not.

[05:59] >> The Nobel Prize of mathematics.

[06:01] >> Yeah, this is a band. This is the band

[06:03] phrase. I I never use it. I never use

[06:06] it.

[06:06] >> But other people do use it and I don't

[06:08] mind if they use it.

[06:09] >> Okay.

[06:10] >> But I don't we don't the the academy

[06:12] will never use that. Yeah, I can

[06:15] understand why Alfred Nobel died now.

[06:18] But do you think he missed a trick by

[06:19] not having mathematics?

[06:20] >> Oh yes, he did a big mistake. A big

[06:22] mistake. Yes. I mean this was on the

[06:24] mission and I mean all these stories

[06:26] about why there is no Nobel Prize in

[06:28] mathematics and I think the closest one

[06:30] is that he didn't see the practical

[06:31] importance of mathematics because the

[06:34] original uh plan for the Nobel Prize in

[06:36] physics was to recognize the biggest

[06:38] discovery of the previous year. that

[06:41] does not make much sense these days at

[06:43] all and the first years it was given for

[06:45] practical inventions

[06:47] and he couldn't see any practical uh use

[06:50] of mathematics and of course now we know

[06:52] that this is not true and also we know

[06:55] that invent or discoveries in physics

[06:57] takes more than a year so the plan was

[07:00] great but he missed out something I was

[07:03] speaking to uh fings today and he was

[07:06] full of happiness and praise about his

[07:08] prize

[07:08] >> but he did raise an interesting point

[07:10] and I have read it elsewhere as well

[07:12] that the mathematical prizes can become

[07:15] bit of a like a circuit and the same

[07:17] people the same people win them you know

[07:19] if he won a fields medal then you win

[07:21] this then you win that and the same the

[07:23] same

[07:24] >> and I wonder how you respond to that

[07:26] because it's it seems kind of inevitable

[07:28] but I don't know how you get around

[07:29] >> it is this is an issue and we discuss

[07:32] this in the committee and we try to

[07:33] avoid you know making the circle smaller

[07:36] and smaller and some people get all the

[07:38] prices now I I mean there are a few

[07:41] people who stand out and they deserve

[07:44] all almost all the prices and they will

[07:46] get them eventually but we do make a

[07:49] serious search and look for names that

[07:51] have not necessarily been recognized and

[07:53] who deserve it. So so it is an issue. I

[07:56] I think it's a very valid point and uh

[07:59] has to be taken seriously. So when the

[08:02] committee sits and decides who the

[08:03] winner is going to be, it's not just a

[08:05] pure meritocracy and okay, all the best

[08:08] mathematicians except that one's got it

[08:09] and you're like working down a list.

[08:11] >> To put it uh in very simple words, when

[08:13] I took over the the chairmanship, I

[08:16] didn't get a list from my my predecessor

[08:19] with a list and I just had to cross out

[08:21] the next four names on his list. That's

[08:23] not how it works. So, so we try to scan

[08:27] the mathematical landscape and see if

[08:29] some people have been forgotten, some

[08:31] areas have been forgotten.

[08:34] We look for nominations and we collect

[08:37] letters of references, letter of

[08:39] recommendations from experts, real

[08:41] expert worldwide. Again, a full

[08:43] interview over at number file 2. And by

[08:45] the way, I asked around and I found

[08:48] this. Falting's prize was here in

[08:50] storage, presumably to be sent to him a

[08:52] bit later. Look at this lovely box.

[08:54] >> I have to admit, it feels kind of

[08:56] plastic. I wish it had been like crystal

[08:58] or glass or something. Maybe some silver

[09:00] and gold bits on it. But there you go.

[09:02] With a cash prize of 7.5 million

[09:05] Norwegian crowns, I'm sure the laurates

[09:07] can afford to jazz it up later if they

[09:09] want. Having seen multiple prize winners

[09:12] and these top people, is there anything

[09:14] you've noticed that you think, "Ah,

[09:15] that's that's why these best men and

[09:18] women, they've got something in common

[09:19] or something about them?" Yeah, I have

[09:21] the the privilege of having seen all of

[09:24] them since 2003

[09:27] and I have to say they stand out in some

[09:29] way. It's hard to describe but they

[09:31] really stand out from the crowd. I mean

[09:34] they are very individualistic.

[09:37] They are very independent thinkers. They

[09:40] do what they think they they want to do

[09:43] because they know they have been

[09:45] successful in doing that throughout

[09:47] their career. They have done things that

[09:48] people have said you nobody can do this

[09:50] and they have done it. So they stand out

[09:53] and overall they are extremely

[09:55] impressive from the professional point

[09:57] 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.