Portrait of Terence Tao

Birthday profile

Terence Tao

Terence Tao, Australian-American mathematician

Born
July 17, 1975
Age in 2026
51
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1975

About Terence Tao

Terence Chi-Shen Tao (Chinese: 陶哲轩; pinyin: Táo Zhéxuān; born 17 July 1975) is an Australian and American mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 2006 for his contributions to partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, and additive number theory. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he holds the James and Carol Collins Chair in the College of Letters and Sciences. Among his contributions to mathematics is the Green–Tao theorem on prime numbers, which he proved in 2004 in collaboration with Ben Green. Tao was born to Chinese immigrant parents and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. After studying at Princeton and joining the faculty at UCLA, he went on to be a researcher, known for the diversity of his own interests and his collaborations with others. Tao has won many prizes for his work, including the Fields Medal in 2006 and the Royal Medal and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics in 2014. He is a 2006 MacArthur Fellow. Tao's published research includes topics in harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic combinatorics, arithmetic combinatorics, geometric combinatorics, probability theory, compressed sensing, and analytic number theory. Tao won the Fields Medal in 2006 and won the Royal Medal and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics in 2014, and is a 2006 MacArthur Fellow. Tao was the youngest participant to date in the International Mathematical Olympiad, first competing at the age of ten; in 1986, 1987, and 1988, he won a bronze, silver, and gold medal, respectively. His published research includes topics in harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic combinatorics, arithmetic combinatorics, geometric combinatorics, probability theory, compressed sensing, and analytic number theory.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Terence Tao timeline

  1. Tao was the youngest participant to date in the International Mathematical Olympiad, first competing at the age of ten; in 1986, 1987, and 1988, he won a bronze, silver, and gold medal, respectively.
  2. Tao won the Fields Medal in 2006 and won the Royal Medal and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics in 2014, and is a 2006 MacArthur Fellow.

The world when Terence Tao was born

Terence Tao was born in 1975. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1975

  • #1 song"Love Will Keep Us Together" – Captain & Tennille
  • Top movieJaws
  • Top TV showAll in the Family
  • Best-selling bookShogun – James Clavell

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentMuhammad Ali vs Joe Frazier III "Thrilla in Manila"
  • Top headlineFall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
  • Technology milestoneAltair 8800 — first personal computer kit
  • Defining fadPet Rocks — 1.5 million sold
  • Notable inventionPet Rock
  • World population4.09 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderGerald Ford
  • Sports championCincinnati Reds (World Series)
  • Also wonGolden State Warriors (NBA)
  • U.S. population215.9M

1975 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Terence Tao's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19752026
Gas$0.57$3.45/gal
Average home$28,900$435,000
Average income$14,700$67,500
Minimum wage$2.10$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$2.05$11.95
Postage stamp$0.10$0.73
Population215.9M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.