A former child prodigy, who taught himself to read at two years old, is often dubbed the world's greatest mathematician.
Terence Chi-Shen Tao, 46, is an Australian-American mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Some accolades to his name include the 2006 Fields Medal and the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics. He is also a 2006 MacArthur Fellow and has been the author or co-author of over three hundred research papers.
Tao's incredible achievements are widely reported on, including an in depth interview with The New York Times Magazine.
Before these monumental achievements however, Tao was a child prodigy.
He took an 11th grade class at the age of seven, attended university-level courses at the age of nine, and even taught himself to read at the mere age of two.
Tao, born in 1975, is the eldest of three children. Growing up, the trio played together, often inventing board games with complex, whimsical rules and storylines influenced by video games.
At eight-years-old, Tao scored a 760 on the mathematical portion of a SAT, before splitting his time between high school and nearby Flinders University at the age of nine.
Around this time, Tao’s parents took him on a tour to seek advice from top mathematicians and education experts. It was on the Baltimore campus of Johns Hopkins that they met with Julian Stanley, a psychologist who founded the Center for Talented Youth there.
Tao was one of the most talented math students Stanley ever tested, but Stanley urged Tao’s parents to let their son’s emotional and social skills develop before pursuing mathematics any further.
At the mere age of ten, Tao gained the title of being the youngest person in history to win a medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad.
When he was 17, Tao had finished a master’s thesis and progressed to Princeton University in order to commence his Ph.D.
Now, Tao dismisses job offers from prestigious East Coast institutions in favour of his impressive position at UCLA.
