Terence Tao(1975 — ?)
Terence Tao
États-Unis, Australie
7 min read
Terence Tao is an Australian-American mathematician born in 1975, considered one of the greatest living mathematicians. A Fields Medal recipient in 2006, he has made major contributions to harmonic analysis, number theory, and partial differential equations.
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1975 in Adelaide, Australia, he entered university at age 14
- Earned his PhD at Princeton at age 21 in 1996
- Received the Fields Medal in 2006, the highest distinction in mathematics
- Proved with Ben Green in 2004 the Green-Tao theorem on arithmetic progressions in prime numbers
- Professor at UCLA since 1999, he has published more than 300 scientific papers
Works & Achievements
Proved with Ben Green, this theorem establishes the existence of arithmetic progressions of arbitrary length among the prime numbers. It is considered one of the greatest results in number theory of the 21st century.
A mathematical theory enabling the reconstruction of a signal from very few measurements. It revolutionized medical imaging (fast MRI), digital photography, and telecommunications.
A standard reference on nonlinear dispersive partial differential equations, used in master's and doctoral mathematics programs worldwide.
A pedagogical work drawn from his courses at UCLA, freely available online, which rigorously introduces measure theory and integration for advanced students.
The resolution of an open problem dating back to 1932 concerning sequences of ±1 values. Tao published his proof first on his blog before submitting it to an academic journal.
Anecdotes
Terence Tao taught himself to read at the age of two by watching educational cartoons. By nine, he was already attending university mathematics courses, astonishing his professors with his ability to solve advanced problems that adult students struggled to master.
Between 1986 and 1988, Tao took part in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) three years running, winning a bronze medal at age ten, a silver at eleven, and a gold at twelve. He thus became the youngest gold medalist in the competition's history, a record that stood for many years.
In 2004, Tao and his colleague Ben Green proved a result mathematicians had sought for centuries: there exist arithmetic progressions of prime numbers of arbitrarily large length. The Green-Tao theorem, which blends number theory and combinatorics, is regarded as one of the most beautiful mathematical breakthroughs of the early twenty-first century.
Terence Tao is known for his intellectual generosity and his mathematics blog "What's new
which he has run since 2007. There he publishes proofs, conjectures, and reflections accessible to everyone, and has even solved open research problems publicly thanks to contributions from readers around the world.
In 2015, Tao solved the Erdős discrepancy problem, a question more than 80 years old. He had initially thought the statement was probably false, before changing his mind and producing a complete proof in a matter of weeks, which he announced as a preview on his blog.
Primary Sources
We prove that there are arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions of primes. There had been little progress on this problem since the 1939 result of van der Corput that there are infinitely many arithmetic progressions of primes of length 3. Our result is different in that we do not require the primes to be consecutive.
This blog will record my own mathematical research and expository writing, and occasionally comment on interesting developments in the mathematical world. I hope it will be useful to other mathematicians and students interested in these topics.
These are expanded lecture notes from a graduate course on real analysis given at UCLA. The text aims to give a careful treatment of the foundations of measure theory and integration, accessible to advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students.
Terence Tao is awarded the Fields Medal for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, and additive number theory. His work demonstrates extraordinary breadth and depth.
Key Places
Terence Tao's hometown, where he grew up in an Australian-Hong Kong family and showed extraordinary mathematical ability from a very early age.
The university where Tao earned both his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in mathematics at just 17, before leaving for Princeton.
Tao completed his doctoral studies here under the supervision of Elias Stein, one of the foremost specialists in harmonic analysis of the 20th century.
Terence Tao has been a professor at UCLA since 1996. It is here that he conducts the bulk of his research, teaches, and supervises his doctoral students.
At the 2006 International Congress of Mathematicians in Madrid, Tao received the Fields Medal before the global mathematical community.
