June Huh, together with Eric Katz, proves in 2012 the log-concavity of the characteristic polynomial of representable matroids, solving a particular case of the Rota-Heron-Welsh conjecture formulated in the 1970s. In 2015, together with Karim Adiprasito, Huh extends the result to all matroids — including non-representable ones, where no classical underlying geometric structure exists — through the development of tropical geometry and combinatorial Hodge-theory techniques applied to this purely combinatorial setting. The research program, which unexpectedly connects combinatorics to advanced algebraic-geometry methods, is jointly recognized by the official 2022 Fields Medal citation. Before turning to mathematics, Huh had studied poetry and worked as an aspiring television weather forecaster in South Korea.