The 2021 Abel Prize in mathematics, the mathematics equivalent of a Nobel Prize, has been awarded to two mathematicians for their "foundational contributions to theoretical computer science," the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced Wednesday.

The laureates are 73-year-old László Lovász from the Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics in Budapest, Hungary, and 64-year-old Israeli Avi Wigderson at Princeton University in the U.S.

The pair will share the award money of 7.5 million Norwegian kroner (about $880,000).

Their work has played an important role in the development of computational complexity, the study of the speed and efficiency of algorithms, which provides the theoretical basis for internet security, the committee said.

"Today, algorithms and internet security applications are an integral part of everyday life for all of us," reads the committee statement.

"Lovász and Wigderson have been leading forces in this development over the last few decades. Their work interlaces in many ways, and, in particular, they have both made fundamental contributions to understanding randomness in computation and in exploring the boundaries of efficient computation," said Hans Munthe-Kaas, chair of the Abel Committee.

"Thanks to the ground-breaking work of these two, discrete mathematics and the relatively young field of theoretical computer science are now firmly established as central areas of modern mathematics," he added.

Many of the early pioneers of computer science were mathematicians, such as Alan Turing and John von Neumann. 

The Abel Prize, named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, is one of the highest honors in mathematics worldwide. It has been given annually since 2003 to recognize important advances in mathematics.

There is no Nobel Prize in mathematics, so the Abel has been considered its equivalent.