介紹一個傑出的華裔數學家——Terence Tao(陶哲軒)
Terence Tao(陶哲軒)，在ICM 2002上做過一小時報告，
2006年Fields Medal的熱門人選，2003年的Clay獎得主。
況且是IMO歷史上最年輕的金牌選手（1988年，13歲）。
他的中文名字是陶哲軒，雖然他一句中文都不會講。
下面的短文轉自UCLA的主頁，見
http://www.ucla.edu/spotlight/archive/html_2000_2001/fac0900_tao.html
我補充一點兒其它的材料：
一是文中提到的他11歲就參加過IMO。其實他連續參加了三屆。1986年，在華沙，
11歲的Tao就獲得了銅牌；1987年，在哈瓦那，他獲得銀牌；1988年，堪培拉，他
終獲金牌。關於這一點，見
http://www.amt.canberra.edu.au/olympian.html
二是1992年17歲的Tao在Flinders University取得學士學位，並且是First Class
Hons。其後獲Fulbright Postgraduate Student Award去Princeton University。
他的導師是Wolf獎獲得者E. M. Stein。Stein說過Tao是百年難遇的奇才（在杭州
ICM 2002“調和分析及其應用”衛星會議上聽同行們講的，未經證實）。
BTW: Tao的大師兄Charles Fefferman是更加了不起的人物：20歲在Princeton獲
Ph.D., 22歲在University of Chicago成為美國歷史上最年輕的Full Professor，
29歲獲Fields Medal。
學調和分析和PDE的可以到Tao的Home Page（http://www.math.ucla.edu/~tao/）
上去看看他的List of Publications——真是驚人的多產。
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介紹一個傑出的華裔數學家——Terence Tao
At age 24, UCLA mathematician Terence Tao is young enough to be a
graduate student. Yet not only is he on the faculty—he's a full
professor.
Tao has been years ahead of everyone else his entire life. He started
taking high school classes at age 8, and by 11, he was learning
calculus and entering international mathematics competitions—and
performing well in them. He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University
at 21 and joined the faculty of UCLA's mathematics department
the same year, where he was recruited for his exceptional technical
power and versatility.
Math has been Tao's passion for as far back as he can remember.
"I always did like numbers," he says. "My parents told me that when
I was 2 or 3, I taught other kids how to count with blocks. When I
was 5, I remember that I loved playing games with numbers. Of course,
there's more to math than manipulating numbers."
Tao's primary branch of mathematics is a theoretical field called
harmonic analysis, an advanced form of calculus that uses equations
from physics. He also does work in a related field, nonlinear partial
differential equations, and in an entirely distinct field, algebraic
geometry.
One of Tao's proofs of a perplexing problem in harmonic analysis
extends more than 50 pages, in which he and two colleagues obtained the
most precise known estimate of the size of a particular geometric
dimension in Euclidean space. The issue involved the most space-efficient
way to rotate a needle in three dimensions, a question of interest to
theoretical mathematicians; Tao and his colleagues provided the best
lower limit of any mathematician's.
Raised in Australia, the soft-spoken Tao teaches freshman calculus and
graduate courses and has been awarded two national fellowships this year,
from the Packard Foundation and the Clay Mathematics Institute. The Clay
Institute selected Tao as one of three Long-Term Prize Fellows, along with
mathematicians from Harvard and Princeton.
"Maybe when I'm in my 60s, I'll look back at what I've done," says Tao,
"but now I would rather work on the problems."
September 2000
— Story by Wendy Soderburg, UCLA Today
— photo by Reed Hutchinson
— graphics by Heidi Chernow.
