one of 20 Best Brains Under 40

Young innovators are changing everything from theoretical mathematics to cancer therapy.

by Andrew Grant, Sarah Webb, Emily Anthes, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, Jullianne Pepitone, Elizabeth Svoboda

From the December 2008 issue; published online November 20, 2008

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Terence Tao
Photo: UCLA

Terence Tao
Mathematician, University of California Los Angeles
Many of the great mathematicians of our era probably scored a perfect 800 on the math section of their SATs. Terence Tao squeaked by with a 760—when he was 8 years old.
A quarter century later, Tao, now 33, is one of the most prolific and esteemed mathematicians in the nation. In 1999 he became UCLA’s youngest professor at age 24 and later won the 2006 Fields Medal, considered the Nobel Prize of math. In a discipline where one can spend a lifetime working on a single problem, Tao has made major contributions in a number of categories ranging from nonlinear equations to number theory—which explains why colleagues continually seek his guidance.
“In every generation of mathematicians, there are a few at the very top,” says Charles Fefferman of Princeton University, a mathematical giant in his own right. “He belongs in that group.”