German Gerd Faltings is the winner of the Abel Prize, awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and is considered the Nobel of mathematics, for his study of Diophantine equations (in which the solutions must be whole numbers, without decimals or fractions). Faltings is director emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics and became a celebrity at the age of 29 when he proved a conjecture that won him the Fields Medal in 1986.

This year's prize has been marked above all by the campaign for a supposed candidacy of the US president. It hasn't escaped anyone's notice that one of the reasons Donald Trump pushed for a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the proximity of the Nobel announcement. the agreement has been reached in extremis: just the day before the Norwegian Nobel Committee make the winner public. But in the end he didn't win the award, which went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. A choice that could also satisfy Trump, as it rewards one of his allies against Nicolás Maduro's regime.