Utah professor wins Breakthrough Prize in mathematics; $3 million prize

SALT LAKE CITY — University of Utah mathematician Christopher Hacon has been awarded the 2018 Breakthrough Prize, an award created in 2012 by the founders of Google, Facebook and the personal genomics company 23andMe.
The $3 million prize recognizes Hacon's work in algebraic geometry, the field that studies geometric objects defined by polynomial equations. It connects and elevates algebra, which solves polynomial equations, and geometry, which describes the shapes arising from those equat