IISc Professor Mahesh Kakde Wins 2026 Ramanujan Prize for Work in Number Theory

Indian Institute of Science professor Mahesh Kakde has won the 2026 Ramanujan Prize for his major contributions to algebraic number theory. He is only the fifth Indian to receive this international honor.

Research And Journey

Prof. Kakde works on non-commutative Iwasawa theory and Stark's conjectures, with implications for Hilbert's 12th problem posed in 1900. Born in Akola, Maharashtra, in 1983, he earned a bachelor's degree from the Indian Statistical Institute in Bengaluru and completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge under Professor John Coates. He taught at Princeton University and King's College, London, before joining IISc in 2019. His previous awards include the 2022 Infosys Prize and the 2023 Whitehead Prize.

Education Concerns

Prof. Kakde has criticized the heavy focus on multiple-choice questions in entrance tests, warning that it discourages open-ended thinking and real problem-solving. He also pointed out that women are under-represented in mathematics, suggesting that better career-break policies for childcare could help fix the gender gap.

Context

The Ramanujan Prize is given every year to a young mathematician from a developing country by the International Centre for Theoretical Physics and the International Mathematical Union. India has a long tradition of mathematical research, though experts note that the country still needs more specialized institutions to train future researchers.