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Post by douglaslam on Jun 25, 2014 8:56:12 GMT -5
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Taowww.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/terence-tao-a-winner-in-3m-breakthrough-prize-in-mathematics/story-e6frgcjx-1226965243794Terence Tao may not be a household name, but he is one of the world's top mathematicians, if not the best. This Australian-born Chinese came to prominence a few years ago when he won a Fields Prize, the highest award in Mathematics. Australian news media gave it the right royal treatment, and the Chinese press in particular tried to outdo each other in coverage. He was also short-listed for the title of Australian of the Year. Now, he has reached greater height by winning the inaugural Breakthrough Prize. www.scientificamerican.com/article/with-awards-like-the-breakthrough-prize-who-needs-a-nobel/ I liberally use a quote from a famous poem ''更上一層樓 going up another level'' for his latest achievement. Terence Tao was interviewed on radio by telephone this morning our time. He has lost his Australian accent after spending long years in the USA studying and now teaching. Australia will always be happy to claim him as one of their own. We, the Chinese people will always like to have him as one of the tribe. Google his name or do a search on youtube; there is more to learn about this child prodigy / mathematical genius.
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Post by lachinatown on Jun 25, 2014 9:43:56 GMT -5
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Post by douglaslam on Jun 25, 2014 18:17:12 GMT -5
Lachinatown, Tao 陶 is not an unusual family name, but less common. A well known Tao came to mind is the writer / fisher 陶淵明,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVSlVyJNIXk as represented in this youtube video. I can follow the story in its original form, only just, but I prefer it in vernacular Chinese, which is in this article. teacher.whsh.tc.edu.tw/huanyin/anfa_toa6.htm This is one of Tao's best known works. Here is an English version by the great 20th. century scholar Lin Yutang news.sina.com.tw/books/know/barticle/3602.htmlEnough of my digression. Terence Tao represents another example of brain drain to Australia. I don't think he is holding dual citizenship or else he'd be referred to as American. Nobel laureates like Howard Florey. of penicillin fame, and more recently Elizabeth Blackburn, did their research overseas. It was Howard Florey, not Alexander Fleming, who led the team at Oxford to unravel the wonder drug which saved countless millions.
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Post by lachinatown on Jun 25, 2014 21:41:39 GMT -5
Thanks douglaslam. According to his UCLA Vitae and Bibliography for Terence Tao link, he has dual citizenship. I think he will stay in the USA. He and his wife (Laura Kim) have bought a house outside the campus. Their children are born in Los Angeles. Now I am sorry that I missed his lecture that I was invited to attend. Maybe next time. Hope to run into him on campus.
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Post by douglaslam on Jun 26, 2014 4:12:50 GMT -5
Lachinatown, It is probable Terence Tao is holding dual citizenship. Unlike Rupert Murdoch, who had to give up his Australian citizenship in order to acquire Fox. And unlike Murdoch, who is loathed and admired in equal measures for his unscrupulous practices, Terence Tao will always be fondly remembered for being the first Australian to have won a Fields Medal in Mathematics. No prize for guessing who I admire.
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Post by lachinatown on Jun 26, 2014 9:35:52 GMT -5
Also UCLA's first Fields Medal. The laws changed, I believe it used to be that no foreigner can own a US publicly traded company. Not sure.
What happened to Murdoch's Chinese wife? She got her money's worth.
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Post by lachinatown on Jun 26, 2014 18:42:28 GMT -5
LA Times: "Born and raised in Australia, the son of a pediatrician and a former math teacher, Tao was a child prodigy. He earned his bachelor's degree at the age of 16 and finished his doctorate at Princeton University at 21. He quickly joined UCLA's faculty and, in what academics described as an astonishing achievement, became a full, tenured professor at 24. Colleagues nicknamed him "the Mozart of Math.""
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Post by douglaslam on Jun 27, 2014 3:52:28 GMT -5
Murdoch's ex. Wendi Deng 鄧文廸 was from Guangdong, I am not sure if she was a gold digger. But one thing for sure. she was single-minded in snaring Murdoch. She is available now, I guess there would be no shortage of suitors.
Terence Tao deserves all the superlatives and high praises. The number of research papers coming from him is phenomenal. Not being a mathematics-literate person, it's all Dutch to me.
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