Chinese mathematician Hong Wang (Class of 2010 and recipient of an honorary doctorate from École Polytechnique) has been awarded the 2026 Fields Medal, the highest international honor in mathematics. Honored for her proof of Kakeya's conjecture in three-dimensional space, she became the third woman in history to receive this prestigious award. This award highlights the excellence of her scientific career and reflects her close ties to École Polytechnique, where mathematics plays a central role in the training of engineers and researchers.
Mathematician Hong Wang, X2010 and an Honorary Doctor of École Polytechnique, has just been awarded the Fields Medal in 2026 for her work on the Kakeya conjecture. Here is an overview of a problem whose origins date back more than a century.
By bringing together specialists in optics and biology within the same laboratory, the LOB stands out among research laboratories. This unique setup...
At the Applied Optics Laboratory (LOA*), the CALYCO Chair aims to develop an industrial laser-plasma acceleration system for non-destructive imaging, with potential applications in the energy, aerospace, and automotive sectors. The project is funded by Institut Pierre Lamoure through the École Polytechnique Foundation.
Through an event bringing together scientists and distinguished guests from the French aerospace sector, the École Polytechnique’s “Space: Science and Space Challenges” Chair reaffirms its key role in educating young engineers in this field, combining research, teaching, and industrial partnerships.
Professor Éric Vivier, a professor at École Polytechnique and an internationally recognized expert in immunology, is the recipient of the 2026 William B. Coley Prize, one of the world’s highest honors in the field of tumor immunology. This award recognizes his pioneering work on natural killer (NK) cells and their decisive contribution to the development of new approaches to cancer immunotherapy.
Mathematics, a historic hallmark of École Polytechnique, lies at the heart of many contemporary strategic and technological challenges. To strengthen its international influence in this field and foster interdisciplinary collaboration, École Polytechnique announces the creation of an Institute of Mathematics and Fundamental Sciences, which will host an ambitious program of research and scientific collaboration. Its future building, to be located in the heart of the Palaiseau campus by 2030, will be funded through an exceptional €50 million donation from Bernard Arnault (X69).
A CNRS research fellow at the Plasma Physics Laboratory (LPP*), Lina Hadid specializes in space plasmas and, in particular, the interaction of the solar wind within the solar system. Interview with a passionate researcher involved in numerous space exploration missions who has just received the Young Researcher Award from the Société Française d’Astronomie et d’Astrophysique.
Sergio Rajsbaum, researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and CNRS, has spent seven months at École Polytechnique as a Gaspard Monge Visiting Professor. During his visit, he and Professor Éric Goubault further developed a new research line focused on the connections between epistemic logic and distributed computing. This was also the theme of an international workshop organized by the researchers on June 15 – 17, 2026.
Elisabeth Maria Niel, Simone Kotthaus, Chloé Techens, and Clément Bonet have received funding from the École Polytechnique Foundation. These Launching Packages will enable them to set up their research teams within École Polytechnique’s laboratories.
The Structural Biology of the Cell Laboratory (BIOC*), in collaboration with Ifremer in Brest, the CBI in Toulouse, and Institut Pasteur, has identified a molecule in archaea capable of putting the ribosome, a cellular machinery essential to cells, into a state of dormancy. This “hibernation factor” binds to the ribosome when external conditions are unfavorable.
Nadir Soucha, a third-year doctoral student in management sciences at L' X Interdisciplinary Laboratory (LINX*) and the automotive supplier Valeo, is conducting a comparative study of emissions from industrial production in France and India.
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