Mathematical minds

摘要

Tao: I was born here, in Australia, in 1975, in Adelaide. I grew up and stayed here in Adelaide for 16 years. When I was a kid, I was accelerated. I skipped five grades in primary school. This meant that I started high school at age 8. But I was already taking more advanced maths classes (Year 11), even when I was in primary school I took some high-school maths classes. And when I was at high school I took some maths classes at uni. My mother and father had to arrange this with the headmaster and the head of department, so it was very complicated. But it all worked out. When I got my Bachelor degree at Flinders University, Garth Gaudry, my advisor, recommended very strongly that I study abroad, so I went to Princeton and completed a PhD. My advisor in Princeton recommended I stay in the States. I've been with UCLA ever since, pretty much. Except I've spent a few summers in Australia, at ANU and UNSW.