ICTP and the International Mathematical Union (IMU) have awarded the 2026 Ramanujan Prize for young mathematicians from developing countries to Mahesh Kakde, Professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, for his important contributions to algebraic number theory. 

The award recognizes his fundamental results on noncommutative Iwasawa theory, as well as his outstanding work on the Gross-Stark and Brumer-Stark conjectures, with implications for Hilbert's 12th problem, one of the famous 23 unsolved problems listed by David Hilbert in 1900.

Mahesh Kakde received a Bachelor of Mathematics from the Indian Statistical Institute in Bangalore, India, and a Master of Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, from which he also received a doctoral degree in pure mathematics in 2008. After his PhD, he worked at Princeton University as an instructor of mathematics before joining University College London as a Research Associate. He joined King’s College London before being appointed as a professor at the India Institute of Science in Bangalore in 2019. 

Kakde’s main field of interest is algebraic number theory, a branch of mathematics that applies the structures of algebra, such as fields and groups, to solve problems in number theory, and thus answer questions about integer numbers and their generalisations.

For his contributions, Kakde has been awarded several recognitions. In 2022 he was the recipient of the Infosys Prize in Mathematical Sciences and was one of the invited speakers at the International Congress of Mathematicians alongside Samit Dasgupta. In 2023 Kakde was also named to Asian Scientist 100, a list of top researchers, academics, and innovators across Asia published annually by Asian Scientist Magazine.

About the Ramanujan Prize
 
The Ramanujan Prize for young mathematicians from developing countries has been awarded annually since 2005 and is administered jointly by ICTP and IMU. It is usually awarded to one person, but may be shared equally among recipients who have contributed to the same body of work. 
 
The Prize is awarded to a researcher from a developing country who is less than 45 years of age on 31 December of the year of the award, and who has conducted outstanding research under difficult conditions in a developing country. Researchers working in any branch of the mathematical sciences are eligible. The Prize carries a $10,000 cash award.
 
The Prize selection committee consists of eminent mathematicians appointed in consultation between the ICTP and the IMU.