Who Would Have Won the Fields Medal 150 Years Ago?

Abstract

Introduction Hypothetical histories are a way of shedding light both on what happened in the past and on our present ways of thinking. This article supposes that the Fields Medals had begun in 1866 rather than in 1936 and will come to some possibly surprising conclusions aboutwho the first winners would have been. It will, I hope, prompt readers to consider how mathematical priorities change— and how hindsight can alter our view of the mathematical landscape. Let us imagine that in 1864 the CanadianAmerican astronomer Simon Newcomb had seen past the horrors of Antietam and Gettysburg to a better world in which mathematics would take its place among other cultural values in the new republic. Let us further suppose that Newcomb, in his optimism for the future, had decided that there should be a prize awarded regularly to young mathematicians who had done exceptional work and that the first awards should bemade in August 1866. What might have motivated Newcomb to thus recognize exemplary mathematics research? Since 1861 Newcomb had worked at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, as astronomer and professor of mathematics. There Newcomb helped fill the void left when other academics, uncomfortable at being employed by a military institution during a time of war, resigned their positions at the observatory.