Oxford Professor Receives Abel Prize For Solving 300-Year-Old Mathematical Mystery

About 20 years after publishing his "stunning" proof on a 300-year-old problem that had once stumped scholars, a professor from the University of Oxford on Tuesday received one of the most prestigious awards in the field of mathematics.

Sir Andrew Wiles, a 62-year-old number theorist, was awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters with the 2016 Abel Prize for his work on Fermat's Last Theorem.

The Abel Prize, which is regarded as the Nobel Prize for mathematics, is worth 6 million kroner (equivalent to £500,000 or $700,000).

Wiles' work had opened new tools that allowed researchers to make great and ambitious strides to bring together disparate branches of mathematics. The academy described the achievement as an "epochal moment" for academics.

The Oxford professor said solving the theorem gave him an overwhelming sense of fulfilment.

"It is a tremendous honor to receive the Abel Prize and to join the previous laureates who have made such outstanding contributions to the field," said Wiles.