Fields Medals (2 Viewers)

Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
722
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
He's made it to the A-list for 2006 in today's Australian:



It was a dazzling win by one of our most accomplished sons, and yet it went virtually unnoticed. On August 22, Adelaide-born mathematician Terence Tao, 31, won maths' equivalent of the Nobel Prize, the Fields Medal, awarded by the International Mathematical Union.

You don't get a gong like this for your prowess at long division. Tao was feted for being a leading figure in a number of disciplines whose very description can induce headaches: harmonic analysis, an advanced form of calculus that uses equations from physics; algebraic geometry; number theory; and combinatorics. His theory of prime numbers is now the basis of codes for the protection of information, including banking data.

"It is very humbling to receive the Fields Medal," Tao says. "The words of a Fields Medallist carry a lot of weight within mathematics, for instance in framing future directions of research, which means that I have to watch what I say more carefully now!"

Tao entered high school at eight; at 11, he was winning international maths competitions; at 17 he graduated from Adelaide's Flinders University with a master's degree in science; at 20 he gained his PhD from Princeton University in the United States, and at 24 was made professor of mathematics at the University of California in Los Angeles.

The personable Tao (who's been likened to "Mozart - without the personality problems") has said: "I don't have any magical ability. I look at a problem, play with it, work out at strategy." See, simple.

Box, D., et. al., The A-list 2006, The Weekend Australian Magazine, Dec. 16, 2006, p33.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20914839-15025,00.html
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
722
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Terry Tao has been nominated for The Australian's Australian of the Year as well. We find out if he wins this one on Jan 20 in the Weekend Australian. Note that this is different to the Australian Govenment's Australian of the Year, which is the one I nominated him for, the winner for which will be announced on Jan. 25.

Maths genius is world figure, The Australian, Dec. 27, 2006

Terence Tao has been called the “Mozart of Maths”.

The Adelaide-born child genius began impressing family and teachers from an early age with a prowess well beyond his years, and he now leads the world in a variety of mathematical disciplines.

Professor Tao is a popular readers' nominee for The Australian's Australian of the Year award.

He started high school at eight, at 11 had already won international maths competitions and when only 17 graduated from Adelaide's Flinders University.

By 24, he was a professor at the University of California Los Angeles, where he has been for the past seven years. In this time he has become one of the leading voices in the maths world. But the highest point so far was becoming the youngest and first Australian to win the Fields Medal, the greatest acccolade a mathematician can receive.

Professor Tao's work in fields such as harmonic analysis, number theory and combinatorics has been influential in information protection, in particular with banking data.

Dr Ken Milton of Dynnyrne, Tasmania, nominated Professor Tao because “his achievement in winning the Fields Medal puts hi m on a par with Nobel Prize winners and brings outstanding credit to Australia”.

Chris, a reader in Sydney, wrote on The Australian's Australian of the Year blog: “Tao's achievements have given Australia credibility in a field where there have been few truly great Australians involved.

“It has also given inspiration to a generation of students by showing them that Australians can have what it takes to really make a difference in their field.”
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
722
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
Here's the YouTube video (flv file is 15.1Mb):

<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p6ZUeQv2yFQ"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p6ZUeQv2yFQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>

The YouTube url is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6ZUeQv2yFQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6ZUeQv2yFQ</a>

The paper he presented in the video is <a href="http://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/preprints/Slides/austms.pdf">http://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/preprints/Slides/austms.pdf</a>

Another video: http://www.ucla.edu/video/faculty_terence-tao_profile.mov
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
722
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
He's up against some stiff competition for the Australian of the Year (including 2 Nobel Laureates!)

Yesterday I was sent a letter from the Chairperson from the National Australia Day Council, Lisa Curry Kenny, MBE, OAM naming the finalists. They are:

Tim Flannery
Philip Wollen
David Conry
Terence Tao
Barry Marshall
Robin Warren
John Tooth
Michael Milton
Raymattja Marika

At least he made it to this shortlist.

Also, they said this about Tao:

Professor Terence Tao is the most outstanding mathematician Australia has ever produced. Born in Adelaide thirty-one years ago, Terence competed in three Mathematics Olympiads from the age of ten, winning bronze, silver, and gold medals against mostly eighteen-year olds. He gained his PhD from Princeton University at twenty and was made a full Professor of Mathematics at twenty-four. The International Congress of Mathematics recently made him the youngest person - and the first Australian - to be awarded the prestigious Fields Medal, the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Their citation described him as "a supreme problem-solver whose spectacular work…combines sheer technical power, an other-worldly ingenuity for hitting on new ideas, and a startlingly natural point of view that leaves other mathematicians wondering why no-one saw that before." Terence remains a true blue Australian with a fondness for meat pies, football, cricket, and our easy-going, honest, and relaxed culture. (National Australia Day Council).
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Messages
722
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
This is announced on the same day as the public release of the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth!
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 2)

Top