Suffolk Reporter

Stony Brook University's Professor John Pardon has been named a co-recipient of the 2025 New Horizons in Mathematics prize. This award is part of the Breakthrough Prizes, also referred to as the "Oscars of Science," and is designed to honor early-career researchers who have made significant contributions to their fields. The prize includes a monetary reward of $100,000.

Professor Pardon's recognition comes as a result of his work in geometry and topology, particularly in symplectic geometry and pseudo-holomorphic curves. These elements are known for their role in defining specific types of smooth surfaces within manifolds.

Carl W. Lejuez, Stony Brook University's executive vice president and provost, expressed his admiration for Pardon's achievement. “That John has received this honor so early in his career is a testament of course to his own commitment to unraveling some of the mysteries of geometry and to the incredible research that is going on at the Simons Center and in the math department in the College of Arts and Sciences,” Lejuez remarked. He highlighted Pardon's contribution to the university's standing as a leading public institution and congratulated him on his award.

Luis Alvarez-Gaume, director of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, further noted Pardon's accomplishments. “John Pardon has produced a broad spectrum of outstanding results in various areas of geometry and topology including as an undergraduate and PhD student. He co-created effective algebraic machinery for computation of symplectic invariants, which brought many new applications. Most recently, John proved a conjecture of Maulik, Nekrasov, Okounkov, and Pandharipande for a large class of complex three-dimensional manifolds, including all Calabi—Yau threefolds,” Alvarez-Gaume stated.

The Breakthrough Prize was established by sponsors including Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki to celebrate vital scientific advancements. The prize acknowledges contributions that include significant progress in comprehending and addressing major diseases.

Stony Brook University has a history of award winners among its faculty, marking this as the fifth Breakthrough Prize received. Previous recipients include Professor Alexander (Sasha) Zamolodchikov in 2024, Professor Emeritus Peter van Nieuwenhuizen in 2019, and Professor Sir Simon K. Donaldson in 2014.