Even before the world’s top mathematicians gather in Philadelphia in late July for the International Congress of Mathematicians, a high-stakes battle is unfolding over where the global event will next take place. Spearheaded by 1982 Fields Medallist and Tsinghua University professor Shing-Tung Yau, Hong Kong’s bid to host the 2030 congress faces competition from Glasgow and Tokyo. An inspection delegation from the International Mathematical Union (IMU) – the congress’s governing body – completed...