Ngo Bao Chau is a professor at the University of Chicago

Mathematician Ngo Bao Chau, whose work was named the most important scientific discovery of the year, has just received an invitation to become a professor at the University of Chicago, USA.

Mathematics professor Ngo Bao Chau.Photo: diendantoanhoc.org.

According to Newswise, Bao Chau accepted the appointment decision on January 25. He will become a school math professor from September 1, 2010.

'Obviously this is one of the best mathematicians of our time. I expect really great things from this young man, ' said Robert Fefferman, mathematics professor and chief scientist at the University of Chicago.

Peter Constantin, head of the Mathematics Department at the University of Chicago, commented: "Bao Chau has achieved groundbreaking achievements. His work is a bridge between two areas (arithmetic and geometry)."

Bao Chau, 37, was honored by Time magazine after he proved the basic lemma in the "Langlands program". If the Langlands program is solved, humanity will almost have a unified view for many branches of modern mathematics such as arithmetic, algebra and calculus. When Bao Chau's work - consisting of nearly 200 pages - was confirmed to be true, mathematicians all over the world breathed a sigh of relief.

'The opportunity to collaborate more closely with colleagues at the University of Chicago plays an important role in my decision to come to Chicago. People are solving some of the most basic problems in mathematics at the University of Chicago's Math Department , 'Bao Chau said.

Ngo Bao Chau, born in 1972, studied at the specialized mathematics division of the University of Natural Sciences, Hanoi National University.

In the summer of 1988, he attended the International Mathematical Olympiad exam in Australia and won a gold medal. The following summer he continued to win the gold medal of the International Mathematical Olympiad in Germany. Also in 1989, Chau went to France to study at Paris 6 University. He defended his doctoral thesis when he was 25 years old at the University of Paris - the most prestigious school in France. In 2003, at the age of 31, he completed the habilitation thesis (equivalent to a doctorate of science) at Paris 11 University. Early next year he became professor of this university.

In 2004 he received the annual research award of Clay Mathematics Institute, USA for those who achieved the most outstanding achievements of the year by solving a special case of the 'Langlands program'. Each year only one or two winners and Chau are the first Vietnamese to receive this award.

After receiving the Clay Prize, he was invited by the Institute of Advanced Science in Princeton to work. This institute is a place that brings together many of the world's leading mathematicians and physicists, many of whom have won Nobel prizes and Fields. Chau also received an award from the Oberwolfach Institute for Mathematics Research for young European mathematicians in 2007 and the French Academy Award in 2008.