Le Monde article in French (good to see that in France at least, Mathematics can still make the front page, an editorial page and a biographical profile in the newspaper of record)

For the French-challenged, the Mathematical Association of America article.

The prestigious Fields Medal is the equivalent of the Nobel prize for Mathematics (except, unlike the more pedestrian Nobels, it is awarded only once every four years). One of the winners this year is Laurent Lafforgue.

He was one of my TAs preparing us for the competitive entrance exams to the Grandes Écoles like Polytechnique or Normale Sup (a “colleur” in French) when I was in my first year of preparatory classes at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. The problem, of course, was that he was so brilliant he had no idea which problems were reasonable and which all but impossible for lesser mortals…

Update (2002-09-23): Salon.com has an article as well.