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A French mathematician who says maths "gives you wings" has been awarded the Abel Prize - one of the most prestigious honours in the field.

Michel Talagrand, 72, received the award for his "groundbreaking contributions", the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters said.

His work in probability theory involved understanding random phenomena.

"I would never have thought it possible, it was incredible to get the news," he said on Wednesday.

"I would not have been more surprised if I saw the alien ship descend in front of the White House," he told The New York Times.

Mr Talagrand, who is now retired, is the fifth Frenchman to win the prize since it was founded in 2003.

He immersed himself in his studies after a genetic illness threatened his eyesight as a child and subsequently discovered a talent for mathematics and physics.

In 1974, he was recruited by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) before getting a PhD at Pierre and Marie Curie University.

He spent a decade studying functional analysis before turning to probability, where he worked on understanding Gaussian distribution or the "bell curve".

The weight of babies at birth, test results students get at school and ages athletes retire at are seemingly random events that follow Gaussian distribution, the Abel Prize said.

Speaking of the next generation of mathematicians, Mr Talagrand said young people were less attracted to the discipline in school but emphasised his belief that maths get easier the more you do them.

"You can fail to solve a problem 10 times, but that doesn't matter if you succeed on the 11th try," he said.

Named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, the prize was created by Norway's government, partly to compensate for the lack of a Nobel Prize for mathematics.

The winner is chosen by a committee of five internationally recognised mathematicians and comes with a 7.5 million kroner (£858,941) cheque.

"Talagrand is an exceptional mathematician and a formidable problem solver," chair of the Abel Prize committee Helge Holden said.

"He has made profound contributions to our understanding of random, and in particular, Gaussian, processes. His work has reshaped several areas of probability theory," he said.

The award will be presented by Norway's King Harald V at a ceremony in Oslo on 21 May.