The character arc of Maryna Viazovska
Born 2 December 1984 in Kyiv. Between then and now sit a childhood good with numbers, prizes at student olympiads, a doctorate in Bonn under a great teacher, a proof that had waited centuries for the packing of spheres in dimension eight and then a second in dimension twenty four, a professorship in Lausanne, and in 2022 the Fields Medal. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Maryna Viazovska?
The proof that found the densest way to pack.
She was born in Kyiv in 1984 and was good with numbers early, winning prizes at student mathematics olympiads before she had chosen a country to work in. She took a first degree in Kyiv, a master's in Kaiserslautern, and then a doctorate at the University of Bonn under Don Zagier, one of the finest number theorists alive. For years she was a promising young researcher among many, working on the quiet questions that most people never hear about.
Then in the spring of 2016 she solved a problem that had stood for centuries: what is the densest possible way to pack equal spheres in eight dimensions. She proved the answer is a lattice called E8, and she did it with a single elegant construction that other mathematicians called astonishingly clean. A week later, with four collaborators, she used the same idea to settle dimension twenty four as well. Two problems that had resisted the field for a very long time fell within days of each other.
For that work she was made a full professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and, in July 2022, awarded the Fields Medal, the highest honour in mathematics and one given only to a handful of people every four years. She was only the second woman ever to receive it. Her line is worth reading because the breakthrough looked sudden from outside, and was in truth the top of a slope she had been climbing quietly for twenty years.
The moments
Maryna Viazovska's timeline.
The 1980s
Born in Kyiv
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and drawn to numbers from early on.
The 2000s
Prizes at student olympiads
Milestone. As a student she won prizes at the International Mathematics Competition for University Students.
The 2010s
Doctorate in Bonn
Milestone, and it changed her direction. She completed her doctorate at the University of Bonn, guided by the number theorist Don Zagier.
Safe results, or the hard problem
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: chase the sphere packing problem, taken, or keep to steady, safer work. The single clean construction she found settled dimension eight, then dimension twenty four a week later, and carried her to the Fields Medal.
Sphere packing in dimension eight
Milestone, and it changed everything. She proved the E8 lattice is the densest packing of equal spheres in eight dimensions, a question open for centuries.
Then dimension twenty four
Milestone, and it changed everything. A week later, with four collaborators, she settled dimension twenty four using the Leech lattice.
Joined EPFL
Milestone. She took up a post at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
Full professor and chair
Milestone. She was made full professor and Chair of Number Theory at EPFL.
The 2020s
Won the Fields Medal
Milestone, and it changed everything. She was awarded the Fields Medal, the highest honour in mathematics, only the second woman ever to receive it.
Fejes Toth Prize and Medal
Milestone. The Renyi Institute honoured her for her work in discrete geometry and number theory.
Her proofs checked by computer
Everyday. Mathematicians completed a full computer formalization of her dimension eight proof, and it held.
The line reaches today still teaching and still working, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. In 2026 her proofs were checked line by line by computer and held, and the quiet slope she climbed for twenty years is now a landmark others build on.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
Hers is four decades in and still being drawn, most of it before the world was watching. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Maryna Viazovska, verified 14 September 2026.
- MacTutor History of Mathematics, Maryna Viazovska.
- University of Bonn, Bonn mathematics graduate Maryna Viazovska receives the Fields Medal, 05 July 2022.
- Viazovska, The sphere packing problem in dimension 8, arXiv, March 2016.
- EPFL news, Prof. Viazovska's proofs of sphere packing formalized with AI, 27 April 2026.
- EPFL news, Maryna Viazovska awarded the 2025 Fejes Toth Laszlo Prize and Medal.