Math Largest Congress Ends Tomorrow : How Logic , Physics , and Geometry Cracked the Oldest Problems

The world's premier gathering in mathematics is in its penultimate day. Four of the biggest open problems in mathematics were just solved — one by importing a tool from mathematical logic, one by chaining particle physics to fluid dynamics, one by rewriting a 109-year-old geometric puzzle from the ground up — and the congress where those results were celebrated is nearly over. Selected plenary sessions at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) 2026 are being livestreamed at no cost at icm2026.org, and Thursday, July 30 is the last day anyone can tune in before the eight-day congress closes with a final ceremony at 1 p.m. ET. The congress — held every four years and described by the International Mathematical Union as the field's most important gathering — opened July 23 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia and runs through July 30. This is the first time the ICM has been held in the United States since the 1986 congress in Berkeley, a 40-year gap, as the Simons Foundation noted in its preview of the Philadelphia edition. The 2026 edition arrives at an unusual moment for mathematics: four of the hardest problems in the field were resolved in the lead-up…