UCLA mathematics professor Terence Tao added another scholarly achievement to his collection last week. The Fields Medal recipient and MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellow won the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics, earning him a $3 million prize.
Tao received the award because of his work in harmonic analysis, combinatorics, partial differential equations and analytic number theory.
Along with four other professors, Tao was nominated for the prize by members of the international mathematics community.
This was the first year the Breakthrough Prize gave an award specifically for mathematics. The Breakthrough Prize also awards individuals for advances in fundamental physics and the life sciences.
The monetary prizes were founded by Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, Yuri and Julia Milner, and Jack Ma and Cathy Zhang.
Tao said he may use some of the award money to support open-access research journals or online mathematical research collaborations, according to a UCLA press release.
All five winners will receive their trophies and prize money in a November ceremony. The five recipients have agreed to serve on a selection committee to help determine the 2015 award winners.
Complied by Kendal Mitchell, Bruin senior staff.