1931-

Japanese-born mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1970 for his insight into algebraic varieties. Hironaka is credited with generalizing the work of Oscar Zariski, who had proved for three or fewer dimensions a theorem concerning the resolution of singularities, by proving results for any dimension. A Harvard University professor emeritus, Hironaka has also served as executive director of the Japanese Association for Mathematical Sciences and is credited with providing the inspiration for the International Math Olympics, a competition for schoolchildren that encourages mathematical accuracy and speed.