Shenzhen-based AI mathematician Yurii Nesterov wins top prize in applied maths

When Russian-born Belgian mathematician Yurii Nesterov reached retirement age in 2023, he found himself at the centre of a technological storm.The accelerated gradient algorithm he derived with pen and paper 40 years ago had become the engine driving the rapid advancement of modern artificial intelligence (AI).Faced with the full explosion of the AI age, the academic – hailed as the “master of international algorithm design” – wanted to continue his groundbreaking work, saying: “It is crazy to stop right now.”In June, Nesterov, now 70, embarked on a new full-time career in southern China’s tech hubs, joining the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen) and the Shenzhen Loop Area Institute (SLAI) as a professor at the Centre for AI Theoretical Foundation and Systems.Almost immediately, the scholar won the highest honour in the global applied mathematics community – the Carl Friedrich Gauss Prize – which he received at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) ceremony in Philadelphia on July 23.“The main feature of China today is the fast and progressive development,” Nesterov said.