Mathematician Prof. Elon Lindenstrauss of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has won the prestigious Fields Medal for 2010, the first Israeli to win the honor. The Fields Medal is considered the Nobel Prize of mathematics.

Lindenstrauss, 40, won the Fields Medal for his work on numbers theory. The Fields Medal is awarded every four years to mathematicians under the age of 40, with the goal of encouraging them to make extraordinary achievements. Lindenstrauss will win a C$15,000 prize, a rather small amount in comparison with the $1 million Noble Prize awards.