Dr. Carlo Pagano Awarded the 2026 Coxeter-James Prize

Ottawa, ON – The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Carlo Pagano (Concordia University) has been named the recipient of the 2026 Coxeter-James Prize. This prize recognizes young mathematicians who have made outstanding contributions to mathematical research in Canada. Dr. Pagano will receive his prize at the 2026 CMS Winter Meeting in Montréal (QC), where he will also deliver a prize lecture. 

Dr. Pagano completed his undergraduate and master’s studies at Roma Tor Vergata (Italy), before earning his PhD from Leiden University (Netherlands) under the supervision of Dr. Hendrik Lenstra. Following postdoctoral appointments at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics (Germany) and the University of Glasgow (UK), he joined Concordia University in August 2022 as a tenure-track professor. As of February 2026, he has also been working with Google DeepMind as a Visiting Researcher working at the crossroad of Mathematics and AI, jointly with his position at Concordia.

Dr. Pagano has emerged as one of the leading figures of his generation in number theory, particularly in arithmetic statistics and related areas. Since joining Concordia University, he has established an international reputation for deep, creative, and technically sophisticated work that solves longstanding problems and opens new directions in the field.

Dr. Pagano is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking joint work with Dr. Peter Koymans on two major problems. In one landmark achievement, they solved Stevenhagen’s conjecture on the negative Pell equation, a problem that has been studied for centuries. Their proof, which has appeared in Acta Mathematica, introduced new ideas in the study of class groups and reciprocity laws and received attention within mathematics and beyond.

In a second breakthrough, Dr. Pagano and Dr. Koymans provided a complete negative solution to Hilbert’s Tenth Problem over arbitrary infinite finitely generated rings, building on the foundational work of Davis, Matiyasevich, Putnam, and Robinson from the 1970s. Their approach combines subtle arithmetic geometry with methods from additive combinatorics and the theory of Selmer groups. This achievement solved one of the most important open questions in number theory and logic, and has already influenced subsequent research in the arithmetic of elliptic curves. 

“To be the author of one number theory breakthrough […] is already notable in a mathematical career; achieving this twice in a row in a span of less than 5 years […] is truly remarkable and marks Carlo as a rising star in the subject.”

Beyond these important results, Dr. Pagano has made substantial contributions to Malle’s conjecture on counting number fields, the distribution of torsion in class groups, arboreal Galois representations, and questions at the intersection of arithmetic statistics and dynamics. His work is distinguished not only by its technical depth, but also by its scope and originality. 

Dr. Pagano’s research has received significant recognition. He is a recipient of the 2025 Mathematical Congress of the Americas Prize and the 2025 André Aisenstadt Prize from the Centre de recherches mathématiques (CRM). His work has been featured in Quanta Magazine and other international media outlets. Dr. Pagano also holds an NSERC Discovery Grant (2023-2028). Furthermore, he has been an invited speaker at numerous international seminars and conferences, including presentations at MIT, Harvard, Stanford, the Fields Institute, and the Max Planck Institute. 

In addition to his research, Dr. Pagano is actively engaged in the mathematical community. He has co-organized conferences and workshops in number theory and arithmetic statistics, he regularly referees for leading international journals, and he contributes to the vitality of the research community through mentorship, collaboration, and the organization of scholarly events. 

In conclusion, Dr. Pagano has contributed to resolving major open problems and to reshaping the landscape of arithmetic statistics. He has already had a profound impact on contemporary number theory. The Canadian Mathematical Society is proud to award Dr. Carlo Pagano the 2026 Coxeter-James Prize. 

About the Coxeter-James Prize
The Coxeter-James Prize was inaugurated in 1978 to recognize young mathematicians who have made outstanding contributions to mathematical research. The award is named for two former CMS presidents, Donald Coxeter, who is recognized as one of the world’s best geometers, and Ralph Duncan James, who was a great contributor to mathematical development in Canada.

For more information, visit the Coxeter-James Prize page.

About the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS)
The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) is the main national organization whose goal is to promote and advance the discovery, learning and application of mathematics. The Society’s activities cover the whole spectrum of mathematics including meetings, research publications, and the promotion of excellence in mathematics competitions that recognize outstanding student achievements. The CMS is a registered non-profit, charitable organization and depends on grants, funding, and generous donations from sponsors, benefactors and community members to be able to carry out its activities.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Susan Cooper (Manitoba) Chair, CMS Research Committee Canadian Mathematical Society chair-resc@cms.math.ca

or

Dr. Termeh Kousha Executive Director Canadian Mathematical Society tkousha@cms.math.ca