The winners of the latest round of Fields Medals have just been announced. I was delighted to see that one of the winners was Terry Tao, from my home city of Adelaide. I used to tutor Terry a bit when he was an 8- or 9-year old mathematical prodigy training for the International Mathematical Olympiad, and I was 18 -- though it has to be said that he didn't need much help. (The Sydney Morning Herald has a nice article.) I might also have met Grigori Perelman, the reclusive Russian who proved the Poincare conjecture and declined a medal, at the IMO in Budapest in 1982, though I can't say I have any specific recollection. (I discovered this connection when an enterprising journalist e-mailed me to see if I had any photos of Perelman. Alas, I couldn't find any.)
I've often wondered whether success in mathematics at these early stages correlates strongly with success in the field later on (it didn't for me, as a mathematics dropout), so it's great to see Terry and other ex-youngsters doing so well. Incidentally, the register of former Australian IMO participants indicates that three have gone on to become professional philosophers: me, Brian Weatherson, and Kevin Davey. It would be interesting to know whether there are others from other countries with the same trajectory.
I thought the Age article on Terry, which focussed more on what he did to win the Fields, was much more appropriate than the SMH article which seemed to focus more on the "what a smart kid" angle. He's just won a Fields Medal - they shouldn't be using primary school photos of him. Ugh.
Anyway, on the more serious question, Cian Dorr was at the same Olympiad that I was (1990). Interestingly, Kevin Davey was just the year before that. That was a good run for philosophers(-to-be) at the IMO!
Posted by: Brian Weatherson | August 24, 2006 at 12:28 AM
Oh, and Alexander Paseau, who was on the 1993 British team, is now at Oxford.
Posted by: Brian Weatherson | August 24, 2006 at 12:35 AM
I was at the summer training program in '97, but sadly didn't quite qualify in '98.
Posted by: Kenny Easwaran | August 24, 2006 at 04:03 AM
Maybe some day an artificial Mind will win a Fields Medal, or the Prix Goncourt, or a Pulitzer prize.
Posted by: Mentifex | August 29, 2006 at 12:30 AM
Tao has some interesting things to say about mathematics for the philosopher, as I discuss here.
Posted by: David Corfield | September 10, 2006 at 09:24 PM
As a physics student considering switching to philosophy (four courses from completing a math major, I lost interest and got distracted by philosophy), and someone who has taken a philosophy course from Kevin Davey, I am now both amused and impressed. I never managed to qualify for the IMO team for my country but considered myself reasonably talented at math when I was young. So perhaps I will eventually end up with a similar trajectory.
Posted by: IP | January 06, 2007 at 01:29 PM