Dr. June Huh stands as a preeminent mathematician whose innovative approach to connecting diverse mathematical domains has earned him the highest accolades in his field. Currently serving as a professor of mathematics at Princeton University, he previously held appointments at Stanford University, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the Clay Mathematics Institute. His academic journey began with undergraduate and master's degrees from Seoul National University before earning his PhD from the University of Michigan in 2014. Remarkably, Huh initially pursued poetry rather than mathematics, only discovering his mathematical talents later through a chance encounter with Fields Medalist Heisuke Hironaka's course during his undergraduate studies in physics and astronomy.
Dr. Huh's groundbreaking research has fundamentally transformed the landscape of geometric combinatorics through his ability to forge connections between seemingly disparate mathematical fields. His proof of the long-standing Read-Hoggar conjecture about chromatic polynomials in graph theory during his doctoral studies demonstrated his exceptional talent for solving problems that had resisted solution for over forty years. Working with Karim Adiprasito and Eric Katz, he resolved the Heron-Rota-Welsh conjecture concerning the log-concavity of characteristic polynomials of matroids, establishing deep connections between combinatorics and Hodge theory. His innovative proposal of Lorentzian polynomials created a powerful framework that unifies combinatorial structures with properties from mathematical physics, finding applications across computer science, representation theory, and probability theory.
Beyond his technical contributions, Dr. Huh has profoundly influenced the mathematical community through his distinctive approach to mathematical exploration and his exceptional ability to communicate complex ideas across disciplinary boundaries. His award of the 2022 Fields Medal, the highest honor in mathematics, recognized his transformative contributions to combinatorics and marked him as the first person of Korean ancestry to receive this prestigious distinction. The MacArthur Foundation has also honored him with a Fellowship for his unique ability to make unexpected connections between different branches of mathematics. As an influential mentor and collaborator, Huh continues to shape the future of geometric combinatorics while inspiring a new generation of mathematicians to approach problems with his characteristic blend of intuition, creativity, and interdisciplinary insight.
