SBS interviewed Jun Huh, a professor of mathematics at Princeton University in the United States and a senior professor of mathematics at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KIAS), who was the first Korean scholar to receive the Fields prize, which is called the 'Nobel Prize of mathematics'.
Professor Huh had a video interview with SBS at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, where the Fields Award ceremony was held yesterday (the 5th) local time.
Professor Huh, who is known for being not very good at math as a child, told SBS that she was "not particularly good at math".
She recalled that while she attended elementary, middle, and university in Korea, she didn't find any talent for math.
Professor Huh, who began to study mathematics in earnest only after entering graduate school, surprised the world mathematics community by proving long-standing mathematical difficulties such as the lead conjecture and the rota conjecture that were raised in 1968 one after another, and even won the Fields Medal.
Some even say, "It's like holding a tennis racket and winning the Wimbledon tournament two years later."
What is the secret of the academic achievements of the 'late mathematician' to such a degree that the world is in full bloom?
Professor Heo, who is known to the public as 'I almost became a math giver', answered this question by saying, "It is important to know how to give up well."
Listen to Professor Huh's interview.
(Planning: Yoon-sik Jeong / Reporting: Da-eun Jeong / Cinematography: VJ Oh Se-gwan / Editing: Yong-hee Jeong / Production: D Content Planning Department)