18-Year-Old Rachel Chen Wins $100,000 for Visual Quantum Math Breakthrough

Rachel Chen, an 18-year-old at Marlborough School in Los Angeles, secured fourth place and a $100,000 award at the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search by extending a 1997 mathematical insight involving Temperley-Lieb diagrams. She applied these simple point-and-curve illustrations to model the spin representation of multiple electrons in a magnetic field, offering a more intuitive view of quantum superposition. Chen derived the first explicit non-inductive formula for the dual canonical basis and connected it to Lusztig's dual canonical basis, also providing a new axiomatic description of the canonical basis via the Hecke algebra.

The Society for Science noted that her diagrammatic method could help researchers visualize relationships among quantum-mechanical states. The competition attracted more than 2,600 participants, with the top prize going to Connor Hill, while Chen’s achievement was recognized for its innovative visual framework.