Four mathematicians whose work covers areas like algebraic geometry and partial differential equations are the latest recipients of the Fields Medals, an award that is given out every four years to the brightest young researchers in the field.

This year’s recipients, announced on Thursday during the International Congress of Mathematics in Philadelphia, solved cutting-edge problems, including one that seemed like a simple puzzle of geometry and another that derived a fundamental equation that describes the motion of gases.

The medalists include two people who were born in China — Yu Deng, 37, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Hong Wang, 35, a professor at New York University and the Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies in France. This is the first time the cadre of Fields winners includes more than one Asian mathematician. Dr. Wang is also just the third woman to receive a Fields.

The other two medalists are Jacob Tsimerman, 38, a professor at the University of Toronto, and John Pardon, 37, a professor at Stony Brook University on Long Island.

The honor is accompanied by 15,000 Canadian dollars, or about $10,600, and a gold coin with the face of Archimedes, an ancient Greek mathematician.

The congress, which is the world’s largest and most prestigious gathering of mathematicians, comes as the field faces upheaval from artificial intelligence, which is quickly gaining skills that rival those of human mathematicians.