The work of Ngo Bao Chau

摘要

Ngo Bao Chau has been awarded a Fields Medal for his proof of the fundamental lemma. I shall try to describe the role of the fundamental lemma in the theory of automorphic forms. I hope that this will make it clear why the result will be a cornerstone of the subject. I will also try to give some sense of Ngo's proof. It is a profound and beautiful argument, built on insights mathematicians have contributed for over thirty years.