HLF Laureate Portraits: Terence Tao

The Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation presents the HLF Laureate Portraits: Terence Tao; Fields Medal, 2006.
Interview recorded in 2018.
In this series, join us as we meet with the top mathematicians and computer scientists - recipients of the Abel Prize, the ACM A.M. Turing Award, the ACM Prize in Computing, the Fields Medal, the IMU Abacus Medal and the Nevanlinna Prize. Marc Pachter (Director Emeritus of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute) sits down with the laureates to discuss their lives, their research, their careers and the circumstances that led to their awards. These interviews were produced for the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation by the Berlin photographer Peter Badge.
The opinions expressed in this video do not necessarily reflect the views of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation or any other person or associated institution involved in the making and distribution of the video.
Background:
The Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF) annually organizes the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), which is a networking conference for mathematicians and computer scientists from all over the world. The HLFF was established and is funded by the German foundation Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS), which promotes natural sciences, mathematics and computer science. The HLF is strongly supported by the award-granting institutions, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM: ACM A.M. Turing Award, ACM Prize in Computing), the International Mathematical Union (IMU: Fields Medal, IMU Abacus Medal, Nevanlinna Prize), and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DNVA: Abel Prize). The Scientific Partners of the HLFF are the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and Heidelberg University.
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[@alphabetacanton]

Tao is a very good communicator. Modest, fluent, responsive, considered, honest, and humorous. Very good person, a great scholar and a gentleman to the core.

[@amberheard2869]

are you sure about honest?

[@potassiumlanthanium5655]

@@amberheard2869 ?

[@l.3ok]

@@amberheard2869 ?

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

Tao is always good has he ever been bad

[@mathematics5573]

I actually don't find him so interesting. He isn't famous for proving any really famous conjectures, like Fermat's Last Theorem.

[@riemanniann]

he is such a generous and brilliant mathematician. many years ago, i asked a question about group theory in his fantastic blog for mathematics and he and many others answered my question very well. that was a good moment in my life.

[@Anthony-db7ou]

I love how much of a procrastinator Tao is. I feel like that’s my biggest flaw, so it’s inspiring to see him struggle with the same thing and still push forward to accomplish what he has. Proof that you can do anything you can put your mind to! Edit: maybe not “proof” 😂

[@radical_drift572]

This is such a great interview. His comment on research math being about knowledge in a lot of ways is what I'm learning now. His statement that his knowledge was narrow is quite humbling. Gives people like me hope!

[@ff2017]

Wow, a whole hour with Professor Tao, This is quite a good and in depth interview and I'm only 20 minutes in.

[@Goku17yen]

It would be great if soemeone were to make a biography about him, would definitely read that interesting background. Very nice interview, very humble man

[@frederickleung8811]

I met the late Professor John Nash in person and I found him a gentle, kind and humble person. I would love to meet Terence in person and I found almost the same quality in him through this KZbin! All great people do grounded in the same denominator!

[@jimiprice6182]

Seems like such a nice young man, humble and extremely smart.

[@icee562]

He's very modest. That's a rare trait in many math of physics people.

[@pancakebb6384]

Edwin Garcia He cannot make research breakthrough

[@reddhong6665]

@@pancakebb6384 I remember he has won some research breakthrough medals such as Fields Medal.

[@pancakebb6384]

Redd Hong He is thin and skinny because he forces himself to think fast so he is not smart

[@membersonly807]

pancake get a life ,you 90IQ low bob

[@pancakebb6384]

Members Only why

[@zolanhlangulela947]

Such a great professor..Thank you Prof Terrence Tao for your great contribution in Mathematics..

[@bobs5596]

here is a simple math problem terry couldn't solve. he took a whack at it. makes you wonder what is the point of math beyond solving architectural, engineering, and navigational problems. it seems like math is a grand scrabble game that is just a diversion from reality. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZmqXqmSQZ9yjgMk&ab_channel=Veritasium

[@charlesmintus3063]

A well-done interview, I was pleased to see and hear Dr.Terence Tao balancing life, work, and peace of mind.

[@EpicosityGuy]

30:45 "yeah, sometimes I can be helpful" Modesty at its finest.

[@gdash6925]

rather honesty!

[@Goku17yen]

Very scintillating and captivating talks, I am very impressed

[@2anoa175]

Very Nice interviw!

[@elie3537]

They should make a movie of him ...the man with a gift of maths

[@mpcc2022]

It's should be called, "The Tao of Mathematics"

[@oscarkong3200]

Joshua L absolutely brilliant name

[@bobs5596]

try 'good will hunting'..

[@SalesforceUSA]

Terence Tao is the best living mathematician in the world. His Brain at 3000 Hz, Mouth at 60 Hz, A Genius ,,..

[@kurtomom]

JP Serre?

[@holliswilliams8426]

You could argue that Peter Scholze is the best living mathematician, obviously these people all work in totally different research areas so no point ranking them.

[@rootxtheta]

G.O.A.T Srinivasa Ramanujan ❤

[@ivanjelenic5627]

Very nice interview, thank you!

[@mrnarason]

What is this psychoanalysis interview

[@mathstoinfinityclassinTamizhla]

😂😂😂😂

[@jimjimakos1101]

You are great mathematical mind terence tao you are legend continue to give us knowledge my dear friend

[@Mrbits01]

I almost said to myself "no amount of genius is going to save you if you don't put in the work" Then I remembered that Erdos wrote a letter of recommendation for him, so it's safe to say we're not even in the same sport lol :D

[@jorisbak9565]

It,s very complicated for him to answer such incomplex questions. His mind is to fast for regular interviews. Brilliant mind!

[@xvoperel4342]

He answers so quickly.

[@markoivanovic3391]

Actually, he stammers a lot...

[@Avicenna10]

I just discovered that I have something in common with Terence Tao. We both HATED our FORTRAN class in college.

[@ok-kk3ic]

Avicenna10 lol

[@user-cp7hu4he7p]

I want to be a mathematician like him.

[@vancekangyishu]

Who doesn't

[@6anial]

@@vancekangyishu dumb ppl

[@l.3ok]

@@vancekangyishu daaamn man, a KZbin account created 14 years ago.

[@assasin1992m]

@@vancekangyishu mathematician here, i dont..

[@user-zz1ok4du3d]

nice to meet you

[@skinslayer808]

Very interesting interview. Thank you for sharing. (Any negative comments should be deleted.)

[@markslist1542]

I appreciate he does not rely on prestige games for his social identity which some with 1/8th is fame would succumb to.

[@sajjadsari3025]

رجل عبقري ويستحق التقدير

[@oraz.]

zoom out maybe?

[@bobs5596]

i would like to ask if any progress has been made on einstein's unified field theory. what does tao think about the possibility of finding the key to the construction of universe? what does he think about the mind of god? how far away are we from traveling through the galaxy? is math leading to any tangible results for practical applications? how about any progress on being able to run the economy in a steady state? what have we really learned?

[@deepp0]

21:35 He is talking about yitang zhang

[@Smart_Soham]

I want to be a great mathematician like him

[@JameBlack]

he's 43 btw

[@ifteharulhaque2600]

Yes he is 43 that makes a lot of sense mate...

[@harry147ish]

Nobody says the interviewer is so rude to him??

[@CANERKOC666]

.I don't normally understand English.But I'm starting to understand because I like tao.

[@IQSD-zs6qn]

Why is he underrated? He got many fields medal...

[@holliswilliams8426]

How is he underrated? His Wikipedia page says ''He is widely regarded as one of the greatest living mathematicians and has been referred to as the "Mozart of mathematics.''''

[@matthewblackburne5234]

Brilliant this unlimited intelligence,,,just no arrogance

[@bishwanathmaji8987]

Who is urs teacher at math avidly?

[@firstnamesurname6550]

@UClL9byGfuMhbJJmmi14XKwA What's Your 'Fight' Team: 1) Objective Truth or 2) Subjective Truth 3) Any Other Choice is Consider a (2) 'Flavour'

[@bakitnongdhar8064]

Terry..lov

[@pawanyadav3399]

The great mind

[@gowendfehimli6126]

he's often saying ehm ehm ehm... hahahaha

[@samnguyenba154]

So handsome

[@edwardjones2202]

Is this the same interviewer that spent half an bour interrupting Ed Witten? The guy's on a roll😂

[@boogieman6529]

Link

[@minseoksong1383]

He says he should be 'eating' while not doing math lol

[@FisicoNuclearCuantico]

@Heidelberg Laureate Forum My mom also told me I was special. Jajajaja!!!

[@xqs329]

So he is a real life Sheldon Cooper, especially from Young Sheldon.

[@diegosandoval2043]

Intro music?

[@algorithmista]

If you're still wondering, the song is a part of Michelle Waines Greenwell & Dan Devion 's "I Can Stand Like That."

[@travelgalaxy8291]

who disliked it?

[@yarekjareqqurczevsky970]

👏👍☺

[@gosuhenke]

❤🤩

[@yaritzasanchez9736]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🤔🤔🤔

[@samnguyenba154]

He is very very handsome

[@hhhhhhhh6008]

No

[@Ponmurugapoovendhan]

And we have people recording playing video games earning millions...

[@andy8110]

Bro wtf is this camera angle lrlrlrlrl

[@morgengabe1]

That's just how he holds his head

[@Roescoe]

@@morgengabe1 It's too close

[@morgengabe1]

Roescoe xD

[@Roescoe]

@@morgengabe1 yah the interviewer might be smart, but the angle sure isn't

[@TheTruthFadeswithTime28]

it's too acute of an angle

[@dannyboy900102]

The interviewer sounds like Steven strogatz

[@TESTOSTEROL13]

o kurwa jaki mózg operacyjny prawie trzy razy większe iq niż moje

[@SeventhCereal]

A lot of praise thrown on this guy, we need to see RESULTS. Push this guy harder plz.

[@williamfe904]

Wtf are you? “We need to see results?” He is not working for anyone of us. You can say this only if you can graduate with an phd from Princeton at 20. You cannot even understand any of his results delivered. So->fucx off.

[@holliswilliams8426]

are you joking?

[@lhebreu00ivri56]

06:00

[@jasper5016]

Such an intelligence. The problem is, why don't we use such intelligence to solve the problem? What's the point of teaching at a University? Any avg professor can do that.

[@Megaface.]

Most professors engage in research as well as teaching, certainly Terence Tao does. That's how academia has organized itself.

[@Drogba402]

I wonder if this guy was a chess player how much his rating would be. Would he beat magnus carlsen?

[@xkCD_cmpnt]

Tired of dancing Playing Chess and doing Mathematics are two entirely different things, for playing Chess you need to memorize lots of Moves and Openings but for Maths you need great deal of Mathematical Knowledge, ingenuity and creativity. I very highly doubt Tao would beat Carlsen but I can say for sure that he would've been a good slightly above average Chess player and same goes to Carlsen as well.

[@andrewwu2012]

if he tried he probably could become a GM

[@BenjaminMathewWatson]

+Aw Cuber Of course without a doubt, but the difference between a regular GM and Carlsen could almost be said to be equivalent to the difference between an average player and a GM.

[@saikat93ify]

xkCD _5cm11p30n12t You think Carlsen is a slightly above average chess player ?

[@saikat93ify]

Ben Watson No. Carlsen is about 300 points higher rated than 2500. An average player would be about 1600 so I don’t think your statement is true. Moreover Carlsen is more famous than his contemporaries because he’s the world champion and non chess fans don’t know the other players but it’s very difficult to distinguish players above 2750. They all play at more or less the same level.

[@bevs9995]

hes so cute for like a 40 year old dude

[@georgegarnison9458]

Clone screens and robots. Kadeeshis bodsway cronk tonk nix superspeed. Get good at redactions

[@alexanderle1610]

I guess when you average an annual salary of $450,000 then the people paying you deserve to scrutinize your background I guess.

[@markoivanovic3391]

And CR7 makes 200+ 150 (advertising)...both will be remembered

[@robertx8733]

My IQ is most high that Tao, but he is brilliant and the best mathematical of the world

[@johntavers6878]

i doubt it

[@user-qw4zg2py9p]

コラッツ予想の拡張と一般化

[@Malgan90]

Imagine being him. Lol no.

[@Dina-dm4un]

What do you mean?

[@MoJohnnys]

It almost feels like every answer he overthinks and then stumbles over his words because too much is going on. I wonder if he is on "the spectrum" or something of the sort... And I wonder, if he was born and raised in Australia, why he has more of a heavy Hong Kong accent? Was he not interacting with native Aussies growing up?

[@holliswilliams8426]

Don't start with the autism stuff please.

[@raystopper]

The interviewer sounds very snobbish

[@yutuberboy]

CHINESE PRIDE

[@Poincare2024]

hes australian though

[@pancakebb6384]

No. We don’t care this shit. He seems push himself to think fast which makes him exhausted. That’s why he is skinny

[@yurirotondo1737]

@@pancakebb6384 , what's your obsession with skinny? It's his brain that is fat, and that's what counts! He is one of the top mathematicians of his time. Beauty doesn't solve problems. He is an amazing human being, with an exceptional mind.

[@moosapatrawala1554]

@@Poincare2024 he is australian chinese his ancestor were chinese

[@danjo1967]

@@moosapatrawala1554 so?

[@zes3813]

no such thing as gifted or not

[@johntavers6878]

there is, and it's easy to see

[@Zerpentsa6598]

If he was a white guy he would have got the Nobel Prize years ago. But, a Chinese! No way!

[@sooyoungso6673]

There's no Nobel Prize in Mathematics. The Fields Medal is considered the "Nobel" equivalent for Math and Tao has won that.

[@buw4494]

He's Australian-American not Chinese. His parents came to Australia from Hong Kong

[@handyman8764]

@@buw4494 His father is from Shanghai who went to Hong Kong and married a local girl.

[@146maxpain]

Is Terry Tao overrated. Sure great mathematical technique. But a great thinker like Spinoza????? Or remaining closer to the math subject: Perelman (also a Field medal winner) or Grothendieck.

[@SpiderArjun1]

He's a fields medalist. But, other fields medalists don't get as much recognition as him so I can understand why one would think so. It's mostly just the media obsessed with the notion of "child genius". I'd say he's not overrated in terms of his skills as a Mathematician but mainstream media doesn't really care about other great Mathematicians who aren't IMO medalists.

[@146maxpain]

He also does not appear very intelligent on youtube. What's Terry Tao's great scientific insight????

[@SpiderArjun1]

@@146maxpain It takes great talent and skill to hide great talent and skill. Seriously though, it's very difficult to casually slip in Green-Tao theorem in a everyday conversation. While I don't believe the 250+ IQ claims (think IQ is a ridiculous way to measure someone's intelligence) I believe he is pretty intelligent.

[@hanhai8515]

Mathematicians don't appear intelligent, you can look up his publications if you want to understand him more

[@146maxpain]

Hai Han great technique, but compared to Einstein's publications they appear just that: great technique nothing more.

[@rayrocher6887]

Thanks, I bless Kat song soon, he is high IQ smart, too, but lives in Korea, not UCLA, freedom liberty,

[@user-pv5nt4qz4r]

(-2i)!=? if i=√-1

[@nookb280]

Stop interrupting him ffs. Let him finish his sentence!

[@SalesforceUSA]

Tao is a very good communicator. Modest, fluent, responsive, considered, honest, and humorous. Very good person, a great scholar and a gentleman to the core.

[@markoivanovic3391]

Actually he is not fluent at all...he stammers a lot. Of course, he is math genius but u cant see that from this conversation...