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as long as I can remember I've always loved numbers like patterns that helps explain things about how the world works yeah it's it it makes you feel so big you can sharpen your thinking mathematics is so much part of theory he's so creative in mathematical terms his his work is a tour de force it's the Australian mathematical society's 50th anniversary conference and some of the nation's finest minds are gathering and many of the 250 attending a keen to hear from a man considered in mathematics at least first among equals professor Terry town public way hard and quite all and still unsolved so as well as delivering of paper Terry tower was presented with the Society's medal for 2005 whatever the calculation is for professor towers weight in gold he must be getting close to it for this slightly built 31 year old has been receiving quite a few prizes lately very unique it was an experience I really hadn't had before you know having having all this attention last month the maths world's highest honor the Fields Medal was awarded to him and three other recipients at a ceremony in Spain it's regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in mathematics it's given for work that is truly truly stunning and which will no doubt go down in history you're the first Australian to win one of it yes what does that mean to you um I would like to be an example that that Australians can you know can excel in just about anything I think such a sport Terry tales been recognized for groundbreaking research in not just one field of mathematics but many it's almost as if you took a world-class musician and it could play several different quite different instruments after high as possible professional levels this is this is one of my was oh it's in number theory number theory is the study of things like prime numbers which are you Terry tail points out this is more than squiggles on a whiteboard they eventually make their way into our lives this field is used in cryptology for Internet and ATM security for instance at this one well it's all about partial differential equations and is related to that I've mathematically need to do things like weather prediction and to get your computers because numbers and figure out what what the weather to me tomorrow the professor says his theories haven't been applied to everyday living yet but just guided by a sense of what looks interesting what looks beautiful what looks like it would lead to something something substantial and and I'm more than there not know twenty thirty years later that someone discovers that that that's just really needed terry tales own genius with numbers was discovered when he was just two by nine he was doing maths alongside students twice his age at Flinders University in Adelaide and how do you max compared with the older students well I'll get roughly in the eighties and nineties at ten he represented Australia in the international mathematical Olympiad it's been said that he's possibly the brightest of his age in the whole world at age twelve Terry towel came under the tutelage of professor Garth Gauri who quickly realized what the boy was capable of he started creating the mathematics in front of me doing things which I have never seen any other student come Leah it was mind-blowing by sixteen Terry towel had an honours degree by 21 he had a doctorate from the prestigious Princeton University in the US and at 24 he was a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles not that he believes his accelerated learning through primary and high school robbed him of his childhood a testament they made like cuts of shuffled her Andrew didn't work an expert and then I said I've socialized Peter he is just dari none of this professor stuff yeah call me the professor night you go hey younger brother Nigel tell remembers life wasn't all about numbers we also watch like no Jackie Chan movies and stuff together oh did you oh yes this is something he didn't tell us I didn't win the at the Nobel Prize of cool foods because there is a lot of publicity about Terry at the moment it's a wonderful opportunity for people to have an understanding that gifted children do need specific support and input Michelle charity which is an expert on gifted children she says the way Terry towers ability was developed is the exception rather than the rule and accelerated learning should be better accepted in Australia if we could identify more gifted students if we could provide for those gifted students in an appropriate way then we may have more gifted children achieving to their potential and achieving the wonderful outcomes that Terry has been able to achieve so an ethnic progression when he visited year 7 students at Sydney's colera high this week Terry towel may have talked about maths and so many of their questions were about going to uni when he was only their age anyone pick on you because you were so smear oh uh ok 1 or 2 nothing nothing nothing major yeah okay how do you think you became so smart I don't know what these things come from but I mean but one thing I know is is that what my sequencing once you go to you to you to uni for being smiles nobody enough you also have to if you have to work pretty hard meet the smartest guy practically in the world so to me it was like wow yet in spite of all the compliments all the prizes the joy for Terry town lies in solving maths problems and making life count it's just a really satisfying feeling that you you've managed to do something that no one else could before and you've learned something become smarter and somebody made though ever your colleague smarter as well because you can share this with them yeah so give this a lot of satisfaction

Channel: tywebbOOOOO

Views: 583,988

Rating: 4.9357014 out of 5

Keywords: tao, fields, medal

Id: p6ZUeQv2yFQ

Length: 6min 28sec (388 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 06 2007