This year’s Abel Prize has been awarded to a woman for the first time ever.
Karen Uhlenbeck, a mathematician and professor at the University of Texas, received the prestigious mathematics prize which is modelled after the Nobels.
The prize is awarded by the King of Norway to mathematicians who have greatly influenced their field and it includes a cash award of 6 million Norwegian kroner which is equivalent to almost $100,000 Australian.
The dean of the University of Texas’ College of Natural Science, Paul Goldbart, says "Uhlenbeck's research has led to revolutionary advances at the intersection of mathematics and physics [and] her pioneering insights have applications across a range of fascinating subjects, from string theory, which may help explain the nature of reality, to the geometry of space-time."