Terence Tao, a 31 year old Australian who is a maths professor at UCLA, has just won the Fields medal for mathematics. Its been described in all the articles I’ve read as the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel – not quite, from what I can see – just as rare (four awarded every four years) but you have to be under 40 to get it. Although given the way mathematics is, in that most major discoveries are made towards the beginning, rather than the end of a career, the major difference that probably makes is when, not whether you get it.
Anyway, I was interested to see that this did not appear on the front page of any Australian newspaper. Hard to think of a mainstream sport that this kind of news wouldn’t make the front page. Or maybe I’m over-reacting?
Well, if it’s any consolation, Stephen Colbert did a whole riff about it on his show last night. (Has the Colbert Report traveled outside the US yet? If not, it’s a parody of a right-wing tv talk show that’s on late night tv here.)
Terry Tao was on a Maths Olympiad team with my brother. I always wondered what had happened to him!