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Fields Medal
(first awarded 1936)
The Fields Medal was established to recognize outstanding contributions
to mathematics. It
was the idea of John
Charles Fields,
who also left funds in his will for the medals.
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On the obverse of the medal,
surrounding the image of Archimedes, the Latin inscription is a phrase
from the Roman
poet Manilius, in his Astronomica
4.392, of the first century A.D.
It may be translated: “to pass beyond your understanding and make yourself master of the universe”.
The complete passage is “The object of your quest is God; you are seeking to scale the skies and though born beneath the rule of fate, to gain knowledge of that fate; you are seeking to pass beyond your understanding and make yourself master of the universe. The toil involved matches the reward to be won, nor are such high attainments secured without a price.....”
It may be translated: “to pass beyond your understanding and make yourself master of the universe”.
The complete passage is “The object of your quest is God; you are seeking to scale the skies and though born beneath the rule of fate, to gain knowledge of that fate; you are seeking to pass beyond your understanding and make yourself master of the universe. The toil involved matches the reward to be won, nor are such high attainments secured without a price.....”
— Loeb translation
of Astronomica 4.392
by G.P. Goold of Harvard, 1977
